Water column conditions in a coastal lagoon near Jeddah, Red Sea

Water column conditions in a lagoon near Jeddah are investigated on the basisof changes in potential energy. Three major factors including balance ofsurface heat at the air-sea interface, wind and tidal mixing are considered.A negative potential energy change dv/dt will developstratification, whereas positive dv/dt will tend to mix the watercolumn. The tidal effect is greater in summer with wind mixing showing nogreat variations. The buoyancy effect of the heat balance at the surface isnegative from April to October. This negative buoyancy effect will tend to developstratification but the positive contributions of wind and tide counteract this andthe water column remains mixed except in September and October, when a weakstratification may develop. Generally, the water column remains practically mixedthroughout the year. The change in heat content of the water column from mid-Aprilto mid-September is about 3.3 × 108 J. During this period the netheat input at the air interface is about 2.0 × 108 J, which isabout 40% less than the heat content of the water column, showing that the heat is advected towards the central area from the shallower periphery of the lagoon.