Boynton Inlet flow measurement study

A 500 kHz side-looking Acoustic Doppler profiler was installed on the north seawall of the Boynton Inlet (26°32.744'N, 80°02.637'W) on February 20, 2007 and remained operational through August 2008. The system measured a profile of velocities across the inlet and also measured the water level above the instrument. Data from this system were calibrated by regressing the velocity data with data from an independent, down-looking acoustic Doppler profiler which was repeatedly transected across the channel during flood and ebb tidal phases. The down-looking Doppler system was also used to measure the bathymetric profile of the channel at the location of the measurement system. This information was used to generate estimates of the channel flux at 15-minute intervals. These flux measurements were integrated over flood and ebb tidal periods to estimate the tidal prism of the inlet. Comparisons of these tidal prism estimates with wind data collected at Lake Worth pier showed that the north component of the wind velocity was correlated with the Boynton Inlet tidal prism.