Simple Models of Nutrient Dynamics in Letang Inlet, N.B. and Ship Harbour, N.S.

Peter Strain

Simple models have been developed to describe inlet scale water quality for two inlets in Atlantic Canada. Letang Inlet, N.B., is a macrotidal inlet adjacent to the Bay of Fundy; Ship Harbour, N.S. is an inlet on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia whose water exchange is controlled by a mixture of estuarine circulation and offshore forcing.

These models use one or more simple descriptions of the physical process that dominates water exchange to predict the impact of nutrient inputs to the Letang and to determine nutrient regeneration rates in Ship Harbour.

Simple models such as these are cost effective means of answering some questions about water quality, but the models must be inlet specific, must adequately describe the dominant physics, and must be used judiciously. The predictions of such models must always be viewed in the context of the quality of the input data and the assumptions underlying the models.