Chesapeake Bay Outflow Plume Experiment
(COPE) 1996–1997

COPE was a collaborative project between the University of Miami, the Naval Research Laboratories in Stennis and Washington, the Naval Post Graduate School and the University of Michigan, consisting of three field experiments in the Chesapeake Bay. Mostly, the project started with the goal to better understand the dynamics of the bay and the impact of tropical storms on it, and also to determine tidal dynamics and horizontal structure around the bay.

Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United State. The particular situation of the bay is due to the water layers composition and mixing process, tides influenced by wind direction, the water temperature variations during the year and the salinity distribution.  With influxes of fresh water from both the eastern and the western shores, terrestrial-atmospheric-estuarine interactions have a pronounced impact on the coastal oceanic circulation and the fluxes modulation within the bay. On a regular base, the largest amount of fresh water influx occurs during springtime while the autumn months have a lower fresh water entry.  However, this region is susceptible to land-falling tropical cyclones that increase precipitation and flooding during the hurricane season.

COPE provided first opportunity to compare three HF radar systems: the phased array OSCR, the CODAR and the phased array as well as a detailed look at the spatial variability of the tidal dynamics at the mouth of the bay and evidence of strong wave-current interactions near the mouth of the bay during ebb tide and strong westerly winds.

View COPE PDF presentation.

Example of surface current map measured with the HF “OSCR” radar system. Note the complex current field near the mouth of CB with turning flow of the exiting plume near the coast. The frontal boundary between the plume and offshore flow is also visible