The relationship between salinity, suspended particulate matter and water clarity in aquatic systems

This work presents and recommends 1) an empirically based new model quantifying the relationship between salinity, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and water clarity (as given by the Secchi depth) and (2) an empirical model for oxygen saturation in the deep-water zone for coastal areas (O₂Sat in %). This paper also discusses the many and important roles that SPM plays in aquatic ecosystems and presents comparisons between SPM concentrations in lakes, rivers and coastal areas. Such comparative studies are very informative but not so common. The empirical O₂Sat model explains (statistically) 80% of the variability in mean O₂Sat values among 23 Baltic coastal areas. The model is based on data on sedimentation of SPM, the percentage of ET areas (areas where erosion and transportation of fine sediments occur), the theoretical deep-water retention time and the mean coastal depth. These two new models have been incorporated into an existing dynamic model for SPM in coastal areas that quantifies all important fluxes of SPM into, within and from coastal areas, such as river inflow, primary production, resuspension, sedimentation, mixing, mineralisation and the SPM exchange between the given coastal area and the sea (or adjacent coastal areas). The modified dynamic SPM model with these two new sub-models has been validated (blind tested) with very good results; the model predictions for Secchi depth, O₂Sat and sedimentation are within the uncertainty bands of the empirical data.