ИСТИНА

The Nelson River has a drainage basin of 892,000 km2 that reaches as far as Alberta, Ontario and North Dakota. The annual mean discharge into Southwest Hudson Bay is about 2,400 m3. Due to existing hydroelectric dams, the river has a variable regulated discharge that peaks during the winter months. The study area in Nelson River estuary covered approximately 2,100 km2 and extended offshore into Hudson Bay by approximately 50 km from the abandoned Port Nelson, located near the mouth of the river. It includes discharge from the smaller Hayes River as well. The Nelson River estuary is one of a kind since hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes are significantly influenced by up to 4.8m tides, post-glacial isostatic rebound (10 mm per year), seasonal sea ice (6 months), and the variable freshwater discharge. The bathymetry is characterized by a relatively narrow (~1 km) and well-defined (~ 10-25 m deep) central channel and wide tidal flats. These factors lead to significant variability (seasonal, tidal cycle and location) in the mixing of river water with seawater and resuspension and transport of sediments from the bottom and the tidal flats. In this poster, we analyze a dataset from moorings installed along the Nelson River estuary central channel in 2006 by Manitoba Hydro, in collaboration with the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba.