Abstract
Freshwater debouching from rivers and estuaries onto continental shelves is subject to a variety of forces that define structure and the ultimate dispersion and mixing of the plume into the coastal ocean and beyond. Since these discharges represent a major link between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, it is critical to characterize their structure and the rate that these buoyant outflows mix into the coastal ocean. Buoyant outflows are among the most complex oceanographic physical phenomena.