Data from: Interplay between wind-driven advection and mixing of salt and dissolved oxygen in a microtidal estuary

Most work on how estuarine dynamics impact dissolved oxygen (DO)
distributions has focused on tides as the primary mixing mechanism, but in
shallow estuaries with large fetch or small tides, wind can be the primary
mixing agent and also drives advection. To investigate how these processes
interact and affect DO distributions, an observational study was conducted
in the shallow, micro-tidal Neuse Estuary (NRE). Salinity, DO, and
velocity profiles were measured at multiple positions along and across the
estuary over a 6-month period. A one-dimensional model (General Ocean
Turbulence Model) provided additional insight into the response of
salinity and DO to wind.  Salinity and oxygen conservation
equation terms were calculated from observations and simulations to
investigate the roles of advection and mixing under different conditions.
Cross-estuary wind drove lateral circulations and tilted the isohalines,
reducing stratification; lateral advection and enhanced vertical mixing
reduced vertical gradients and increased the bottom DO. Down-estuary wind
tended to increase the exchange flow and increase stratification, but
concurrently the wind-driven surface turbulent boundary layer deepened
over time. The balance of these processes determined if the water column
became fully mixed or remained stratified, and the depth of the pycnocline
and oxycline. Up-estuary wind inhibited the exchange flow and ultimately
the combination of advection and vertical mixing homogenized the water
column. While these patterns generally held for purely across- or
along-channel wind, the response was often more complex because the wind
vector could have any orientation and wind speed and direction varied
continuously with time.