Estuaries exist along the edge of the oceans and seas, and are char acterized by the dilution of sea water by inflowing fresher waters. The motion and interaction of these two types of water (fresh and salt water) determine the salinity distribution within the estuary and that, in turn, affects the organisms residing there. The purpose of this vol ume is to review the status of our understanding of estuarine circu lation and how the circulation patterns affect living and nonliving resources in estuaries. For many years, the primary paradigm for estuarine circulation was the two-layered net or...