Salinity analysis

[rouges]

Hi,

I'm looking into doing some salinity calibration and validation using the salinity module from SLAMM. However there's little documentation available on how to use the module, input data parameters and overall review of the model.
Are there any plans to publish a report on the validations done in GA, Washington state or a manual in the near future. I'll really appreciate any help with this.

Thanks

[Jonathan S. Clough]

Sorry about the delay in response:  The SLAMM salinity module is still largely experimental and inadequately documented I'm afraid.  Unless we get some additional funding to develop, document, and test the model it's likely to remain primarily shelved.  In SLAMM  version 6.3 we added a capability to import salinity as a function of SLR and rivermile or to import salinity using time-varying raster maps.  This requires an external salinity model, however.  This is likely the direction of future salinity modeling in SLAMM as hydrodynamic salinity models certainly seem to be the state of the practice as opposed to steady-state salt wedge models.

The WA work was never published and I'm not sure of the plans to publish the GA work at this time.   The model did seem to work well in these locations -- and the conformation to data at low and high tide was especially good in Georgia as it showed that the model could predict reasonable salinities given an elevation change in the "salt water head."  But it remains a very simple geometrical salt wedge model that is not by any means universally applicable.