Modelling water renewal in a coastal embayment.

A hydrodynamic model was applied to calculate the flow field and the renewal time in Salman Bay, a semi-enclosed coastal water body of particular environmental significance in the region of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Initially the model was calibrated with field data. It was then applied to assess the effect of a series of engineering modifications of Salman Bay, involving enlarging of the cross-section of a link channel to the Red Sea, dredging of the bay, and reclamation of islands inside the bay, on the flow characteristics and the renewal of waters. Calculations showed that the channel upgrading would significantly improve the renewal of the bay waters. For tidal calculations the renewal time was reduced from 48$6 days to 12$7 days, whereas for a wind-driven regime it was reduced from extremely large values to 13-34 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]