Coastal power stations use sea water as a coolant, releasing it back into coastal environments at a higher-than-ambient temperature. Due to the possible ecological impacts on sensitive coastal zones, thermal plume formed by warmer coolant waters needs to be monitored, which is typically done through field campaigns. This paper assesses the use of simulations and remotely sensed observations as complimentary methods to characterise plume behaviour for a chosen coastal power station located within an inter-tidal embayment. Simulations of the thermal plume for two main tide phases and associated sea current conditions are validated against the high-resolution satellite observations. Simulated plume temperatures are higher than the observed values, with the biggest difference of 2 C. The direction of the simulated plume dispersion is in agreement with observations and depends on the strength and direction of sea currents associated with the phase of the tide. The plume stretches most at the surface with limited impact on the benthic temperatures.

沿海发电站使用海水作为冷却剂，在高于环境温度的情况下将其释放回沿海环境。由于对敏感沿海地区可能产生的生态影响，需要监测由较温暖的冷却水形成的热羽流，这通常是通过实地活动来完成的。本文评估了使用模拟和遥感观测作为补充方法来表征位于潮间带内的选定沿海发电站的羽流行为。两个主要潮汐阶段和相关海流条件的热羽流模拟已针对高分辨率卫星观测进行了验证。模拟烟羽温度高于观测值，最大相差 2℃。模拟羽流扩散的方向与观测结果一致，并取决于与潮汐阶段相关的海流的强度和方向。羽流在地表伸展最多，对底栖温度的影响有限。