California coast nearshore processes study

Abstract

The author has identified the following significant results. In the Santa Barbara Channel the effect of the California and the Anacapa Currents are clearly seen in image 1109-18073M. The large triangular shaped lobe of suspended particulate matter that stretches almost to Anacapa Island from the Ventura River area is disrupted approximately midchannel by the east-moving Anacapa Current. In the Point Conception area a lobe of suspended material approximately 20 miles long can be seen moving eastward as a result of the California Current. In the San Francisco Bay area the major results include the detection and delineation of the San Francisco Bay, the location and vector of suspended sediment in the San Francisco Bay, and the ability to differentiate morphologic units within the San Francisco Bay tidelands. Several densitometer line traces seaward of the Golden Gate Bridge on image 1075-18173-4 outline the San Francisco Bay and give evidence of good water penetration.