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Record Low Tide of December 31,1962 on the Delaware River

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Record Low Tide of December 31,1962 on the Delaware River Record Low Tide of December 31,1962 On the Delaware River GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1586-E Prepared in cooperation with the City of Philadelphia Heater Department, the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, and the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Economic Development Record Low Tide of December 31,1962 On the Delaware River By A. C. LENDO HYDROLOGY OF TIDAL STREAMS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1586-E Prepared in cooperation with the City of Philadelphia Water Department, the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, and the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Economic Development UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1966 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William T. Pecora, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 15 cents (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Abstract___ ______________________________________________________ El Introduction. _ -_---_-_---_-_-_-___-____________-__---_-----_-_-___ 1 Data available_____________________________________________________ 3 Data on record low tide_ _-_-_-___________-_-_-____---____-___-_ 3 Quality-of-water data._________________________________________ 8 Long-term records.________________-_---_-_________-_---_-_-_-_ 8 Analysis of data on record low tide._________________________________ 8 Effect of wind on tide___________-____________-.___---_-_---___-_.___ 10 Analysis of long-term records of low tides on Delaware River at Phila­ delphia, Pa___-_____---___-____-_____-___-_---__--___-__----_..-_ 13 Effect of the record low tide on water quality.________________________ 15 Summary and conclusions,______________-__-_--____---_-_-_.-__--__ 18 Selected references.-____--__________-____-_-_____________----____-- 19 ILLUSTRATIONS Page FIGURE 1. Map of tidal reach of Delaware River.___________________ E2 2. Photographs of Delaware River near Wilmington, Del., during low tide of December 31, 1962__________________ 4 3-8. Graphs: 3. Tidal elevations of Delaware River at Delaware City, Del., and opposite Delair, N.J., during period December 30, 1962 to January 1, 1963. __ 7 4. Low tide of December 31, 1962, on the Delaware estuary ______________________________________ 10 5. Comparison of wind speed and low tide elevation, December 29, 1962, to January 1, 1963___-_-_-_- 12 6. Minimum low tide frequency curve for Delaware River at Philadelphia, Pa___________-_---_-_-_- 14 7. Daily maximum chloride concentrations of Dela­ ware River at Reedy Island Jetty, Del., Delaware Memorial Bridge, Del., and Chester, Pa., Decem­ ber 1962 and January 1963_.._.__._.----.-._.-. 16 8. Daily minimum dissolved-oxygen concentrations of the Delaware River at pier 11 North, Philadelphia, Pa., and Chester, Pa., December 1962 and January 1963.___-___--__-___________-___-_-_-____--_ 18 in IV CONTENTS TABLES Page TABLE 1. Elevations of low tide on December 31, 1962, on the Dela­ ware River. ________________________________________ E7 2. Annual minimum low tides on Delaware River at Chestnut Street pier, Philadelphia, Pa_--_-----___----___-_-___- 9 3. Total number of days in each month, for period 1932-62, when low low tide reached indicated elevation on Dela­ ware River at Chestnut Street pier, Philadelphia, Pa____ 14 HYDROLOGY OF TIDAL STREAMS RECORD LOW TIDE OF DECEMBER 31, 1962, ON THE DELAWARE RIVER By A. C. LENDO ABSTRACT The lowest known low tide in the recorded history of the Delaware River estuary occurred on December 31, 1962. The primary cause for this low tide was the strong, persistent wind from the northwest which resulted from a stationary low-pressure area over Maine and the Maritime Provinces and a high-pressure area over the Great Lakes. The direction of the wind, blowing downstream on the Delaware Bay forced huge volumes of water out of the Delaware Bay and, at the same time, lowered the ocean tide levels offshore along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean; these effects combined to produce the lowest known low tide in the Delaware estuary. The magnitude of this tide was particularly signifi­ cant. At the Chestnut Street pier, Philadelphia, Pa., where records have been collected since 1899, the low tide of December 31 was 1.7 feet lower than the previous minimum low tide. This report presents the data that were collected on this phenomenally low low tide, discusses its causes, and describes its effects on navigation, water supply, and quality of the estuarine water. The frequency of abnormally low tides is evaluated for different degrees of severity at Philadelphia. INTRODUCTION Persistent northwest wind on December 30-31,1962, swept down the Delaware River and Bay (see fig. 1) and offshore over the Atlantic Ocean The wind averaged 23 miles per hour for the 48-hour period at Philadelphia, Pa., and 26 mph at Wilmington, Del. The full strength of this wind in the direction of flow during ebbtide in the Delaware Bay and against the return flow during floodtide caused large amounts of water to flow out to sea during each tide cycle. Meanwhile, wind blowing from offshore lowered ocean tide levels to near record low. The combined effects of the wind caused huge vol­ umes of water to drain out of the Delaware estuary. Before this northwest wind subsided, the Delaware estuary had a low tide on December 31 that was considerably lower than any previously recorded. El E2 HYDROLOGY OF TIDAL STREAMS 76°00' 75°30' 75°00' 74° 30' Head of tidal reach BURLINGTON-BRISTOL BRIDGE PENNSYLVANIA TACONY-PALMYRA BRIDGE 40° 00' Philadelphia Delair Camden Chester WALT WHITMAN BRIDGE Wilmington DELAWARE MEMORIAL BRIDGE Delaware City NEW JERSEY Reedy Point/Reedy lsland JettV Delaware River and Bay Monument at Listen Point DELAWARE DELA WARE MARYLAND I 39° 00' BAY 5 0 5 10 15 MILES Breakwater cape May Ha rbor Cape Henlopen FIGURE 1. Tidal reach of Delaware River. The bed of the Delaware Eiver was exposed, for the first time known, as much as 200 feet from the river banks (fig. 2). Channel and berthing; depths were reduced sufficiently in some places to affect navigation, and many boats were stranded on the mud. Water-supply intakes for industries, powerplants, and municipalities were unex­ pectedly out of water for as long as 6 hours. The loss of water supply caused shutdowns, posed a fire hazard, and caused deep concern wherever uninterrupted operations had to be maintained. Arrange­ ments for use of standby water supply were necessary. Some plants managed to continue operations, with loAver efficiency, by reuse of the effluent water which was fortunately pooled near the outfall of their water-supply intake. The effect of the record low tide on the quality of the tidal waters was noteworthy. A significant decrease in salinity was recorded as the huge volume of brackish water moved out of the Delaware River estuary and was replaced by the fresher water flowing from the upper RECORD LOW TIDE ON DELAWARE* RIVEiR E3 tidal reach. When the wind subsided there was a surge of highly saline water from the ocean and bay, and the chloride concentration in the lower tidal reaches of the river continued abnormally high for 2 or 3 weeks. The wind from the north brought the first severe cold weather of that winter. The freezing weather, 18°F average for December 30 and 8°F average for December 31, caused many of the recording tide gages and water-quality monitoring instruments to be inoperative because of frozen intake lines or float chambers. Other instruments failed because the tide level dropped below their operating range. The low tide left no marks of the elevation that it reached, in contrast to many high-water marks observed following major floods or maximum high tides. Thus, to better document this rare occurence, visits were made by Geological Survey personnel to many Federal, municipal, and industrial establishments along the Delaware estuary. The information and data that were collected on the record low tide of December 31, 1962, are presented in this report. In addition, comparative data on previous abnormally low tides and annual min­ imum tides since 1899 at Philadelphia, Pa., are included in the report. These data will be useful for various studies; particularly, they show that the December 31, 1962, low tide was a very rare occurrence. This work is a special extension of cooperative studies of the Delaware estuary by the U.S. Geological Survey with joint participa­ tion by the City of Philadelphia Water Department, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Division of Water Policy and Supply of the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Economic Develop­ ment. The field investigations and preparation of this report were under the general direction of J. E. McCall, district engineer. The Philadelphia office of the U.S. Geological Survey Quality of Water Branch, N. H. Beamer, district chemist, assisted in the investigations and furnished the information and data on the quality of the water. Acknowledgment is also made to the many industries and municipal agencies that provided valuable assistance, data, and information. DATA AVAILABLE DATA ON EECOED LOW TIDE A continuous record of the tidal stages on December 31 was not available for most of the recording gages along the Delaware estuary. Three days after the occurrence of the abnormally low tides on De­ cember 31, preliminary data on the minimum tide were available at only a few locations in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Pa. Of the four recording gages on the estuary operated at that time by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating agencies, only one, opposite Delair, N.J., operated satisfactorily throughout the period of the record low E4 HYDROLOGY OF TIDAL STREAMS FIGURE 2.
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