Kipp Shearman, Meeting Chair

Jan Newton, EPOC President

Stephen Pierce, EPOC Treasurer

River plumes and other sources of freshwater entering the coastal ocean carry a wide variety of chemicals, microorganisms, sediments, momentum, and buoyancy. These inputs have undergone great changes since European settlement of the west coast of North America. Increasing urbanization has impacted the health, productivity and equilibrium state of coastal waters by altering freshwater runoff/discharge patterns and loadings of pollutants, pathogens, nutrients, and sediments. These loadings affect a broad range of biogeochemical processes and phenomena (e.g., harmful algal blooms, new production), with their fate and transport impacted by a complex suite of dynamic processes and phenomena. This session will address the interactions between freshwater plumes and their receiving waters. Contributions describing physical, biological, and geochemical processes in plumes are welcomed. Topics can include, but will not be limited to: mixing of river water and urban runoff with the ambient ocean water; effects of tidal, wind, and internal wave forcing on plume structure; modification of coastal biological processes by river plumes and urban runoff; transformation of plume constituents; and remote sensing of plumes. Cross-disciplinary contributions and analyses of historical changes in freshwater input are particularly welcomed.