Modeling the Potential Impact of Dredging the Corpus Christi Ship
Channel On Passive Particle Transport
Abstract
We present a study of the potential impact of deepening the Corpus
Christi Ship Channel through Aransas Pass; in particular, we study the
effect on the transport of red drum fish larvae due to the change in
channel depth. The study is conducted by high resolution simulation of
the circulation of the seawater entering and exiting the pass for the
current and proposed Ship Channel depths. The computer model
incorporates tides and meteorological forcing and includes the entire
Gulf of Mexico and the North American Atlantic coast. The corresponding
transport of larvae modeled as passive particles due to the sea water
circulation is established by releasing particles in the nearshore
region outside Aransas Pass and subsequently tracking their
trajectories. Both models are implemented in supercomputers at the Texas
Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Accuracy of the circulation model
computations is validated through comparisons to data collected from
tidal gauges in the fall of 2020. We compare the difference in the
number of larvae that successfully reach appropriate nursery grounds
inside Aransas Pass for four distinctive initial larvae positions in the
nearshore region. Our results indicate that the change in channel depth
does not significantly alter the number of red drum larvae that reach
suitable see a net increase of 0.5%.