Abstract Contaminated sediments, poor water quality, and lost or altered habitat in Lower Green Bay and Fox River in the 1980s led to its listing as an Area of Concern by the International Joint Commission. Previous studies on the geophysics and health of the bay demonstrated the need for estimates of transport timescales. Such estimates can contribute to improved understanding of the transport and fate of nutrients, contaminants, and biogeochemical processes in the bay. This study reviews definitions of residence time and flushing time, estimates the temporal distribution of flushing time, the spatial and temporal distributions of residence time, and horizontal diffusivities. The study used a previously developed hydrodynamic model, a drifter experiment, a lake particle transport model, and methods appropriate for the estimation of transport timescales. The estimated residence time for lower Green Bay, 56 ± 16 days, is smaller than a previous estimate of 190 days for the whole bay, and had values similar to the estimated flushing times. The closeness between those timescales demonstrates the important role of water exchange across the Chambers Island transect. Flushing time and residence time do not follow the same trends in monthly variability because the former depends directly on water exchange across Chambers Island, while the later depends, in addition, on tributary inflows and the circulation patterns in the bay. The study includes a discussion of the relations between the timescales of transport and the previous studies of biogeochemical processes, such as trophic conditions, spatial distribution of cyanobacteria, cold-water intrusions, and hypoxia.

中文翻译：

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通过下格林湾的交通时间表

摘要 1980 年代下格林湾和福克斯河受到污染的沉积物、水质差以及栖息地丧失或改变，导致其被国际联合委员会列为关注区域。先前对海湾的地球物理学和健康状况的研究表明需要估计运输时间尺度。这种估计有助于更好地了解海湾中营养物质、污染物和生物地球化学过程的运输和归宿。本研究回顾了停留时间和冲洗时间的定义，估计了冲洗时间的时间分布、停留时间的空间和时间分布以及水平扩散率。该研究使用了先前开发的流体动力学模型、漂流器实验、湖泊粒子传输模型、和适合估计运输时间尺度的方法。下绿湾的估计停留时间为 56 ± 16 天，比之前估计的整个海湾的 190 天要小，其值与估计的冲洗时间相似。这些时间尺度之间的接近程度表明了钱伯斯岛横断面的水交换的重要作用。冲洗时间和停留时间不遵循相同的月变化趋势，因为前者直接取决于钱伯斯岛的水交换，而后者还取决于支流流入量和海湾的循环模式。该研究包括讨论运输时间尺度与先前生物地球化学过程研究之间的关系，例如营养条件、蓝藻的空间分布、