Book Description

The Department of Oceanography, University of Washington, under contract with the Atomic Energy Commission from 1961 to the present, has intensified its studies in the area of Columbia River discharge. The first objectives were to determine the gross features of the movement and dispersion of the effluent water in the open sea, and ultimately to ascertain the probable fate of any radioactive material that might be associated with river effluent of river-borne materials. Studies of the physical, chemical, geological and biological properties of the effluent water and ambient ocean water were undertaken with these objectives in mind. This paper reports the gross features of the plume as they were observed in 1961 and 1962 and describes quantitatively certain features of the dispersion of the plume water; other results of this continuing study will be reported when analyses are completed. The intense sampling program which commenced in January 1961 has formed the basis for investigations of chemical properties by Richards and Stefansson (1963) and Stefansson and Richards (1964); Biological studies by Anderson (1964); and geological studies by Gross and co-workers (1963).