Dispersion of a Surface Waste Field in the Sea

Experiments performed at the Orange County, Calif., ocean outfall showed that a two-dimensional point-source mathematical model could describe the results of point-release experiments. When high winds and low stability prevailed, vertical diffusion was significant. When vertical diffusion was not significant, a one-dimensional model could be used. When the entire waste source was tagged, a model describing diffusion from a continuous volume source, based on a Gaussian distribution of material in a homogeneous, stationary, and infinite field, gave a realistic representation of the observations. Lateral variance of concentration distribution was a function of distance from the source.