Parameter Estimation for an Estuarine Phosphorus Model

The synthesis of a phosphorus model for Jamaica Bay, NY, is reduced to a parameter estimation problem. It is shown that for a quadratic least squared error estimator, the sensitivity function depends monotonically on the reaction rate, and the optimum reaction rate is unique. The resulting model, which incorporates the optimum reaction rate and an effective phosphorus source, is based on a shooting solution of the dispersion-advection equation and yields a good representation of long-term phosphorus distribution in the bay.