As a graduate student, I developed a new
approach (Miller and Winefordner, 1971) for computing the amount of
excess air in combustion processes such as those in
municipal incinerators or jet engines.
My approach is independent of fuel composition unlike previously
published methods.
I developed equations and computer
algorithms to relate major ion concentrations to specific conductance
(Miller et al, 1988). These algorithms were used by Norman E.
Peters while on detail to the Office of
Water Quality to resolve data problems in the USGS acid precipitation
program during the 1980's. This and other work on the natural
relationships between major ions (Miller and Sutcliffe, 1984. p. 32-34)
allow more rigorous chemical logic checks of major ion data than
previously was possible. These tools also allow computer review of major
ion data in large computer databases.
I verified that high radium-226 in ground
water of southwestern Florida occurs when high-conductance water
contacts phosphatic deposits as the result of ion-exchange
reactions on clays. Clays will scavenge
radium-226 when low-conductance water is present. Charlotte Harbor,
Florida, has radium-226 radioactivities that are an order of magnitude
higher than many estuaries in the US. I have verified that most of the
radium-226 in Charlotte Harbor enters in ground water (Miller and
Sutcliffe, 1985, and
Miller et al, 1990).
I developed an approach for estimating the
rate of sinkhole formation from water-quality data and estimates of the
rate of recharge to an aquifer (Sinclair et al, 1985)
I developed (Miller and McPherson, 1991) a
novel approach to estimating residence times of estuarine water by
relating salinity to fresh-water inflow at fixed sampling sites in
the estuary using a newly derived
equation. The salinity and fresh-water flow are related using the
least-squares equation of a simple mixing equation and requires only one
fitted parameter (Qg) that is the upestuary pseudoflow of oceanic water.
The basic concept may apply to most estuaries with significant river
inflows and relatively simple geometries. The utility of the model is
enhanced because the data requirements are modest and can be easily
obtained for many estuaries. The value of Qg appears to be related to
the fundamental properties of estuarine geometry and tidal mixing. I
have received reprint requests for this article from a number of foreign
countries. Researchers from the University of Southwestern Louisiana
(Robert Twilley et al) have used this model for ecosystem modeling in
southern Florida (http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~rrt4630/mangrove-restudy.htm).
This work was foundational for later work by Sheldon and Alber of the
University of Georgia in their article on residence times in the
Altamaha River Estuary that was published in Estuaries (v. 25, No. 6,
pp. 1304-1317).
I developed laboratory (McPherson and
Miller, 1987) and statistical (McPherson and Miller, 1994) techniques
for determining the partial attenuation coefficients for
nonchlorophyll suspended matter (NSM) and
for dissolved organic matter (color) in water. These techniques permit
better determination of the causes of light attenuation and better
assessment of approaches for improving water clarity. This aspect of
light attenuation is currently of great interest in Tampa Bay because
seagrasses have not responded, as hoped, to reductions in nitrogen
loading during recent decades and NSM is possibly one of the causes of
stable or declining seagrass coverage.
I designed methods (Miller and McPherson,
1995) for computing the loss of light at the air-water interface and the
vertical attenuation coefficient for scalar irradiance using
data from two spherical (4p)
quantum sensors floated at fixed depths below the water surface plus one
in-air sensor. I developed theory and a computer model of light behavior
that uses incident light data to predict the intensity of
photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in water and the length of
time during a day that a threshold PAR irradiance is exceeded at a given
depth. This light versus depth information combined with the average
bottom slope of an estuary can be used to predict the area of seagrass
recolonization following improvements in water clarity. The model
includes the effects of the loss of PAR at the air-water interface and
the effects of solar elevation angle (sun angle) and cloudiness on the
vertical attenuation coefficient for scalar irradiance. This work is a
major theoretical breakthrough in understanding and working with the
loss of light at the air-water interface and for understanding the
influence of seasons and time of day on the vertical attenuation
coefficient and the amount of light available in water. The air-water
interface has a significant effect that in Tampa Bay averages on an
annual basis to an approximate loss of 1/2 of the in-air 4p
PAR at the interface. To my knowledge, this
is the first theoretical and practical model of the behavior of light at
the air-water interface. Classical texts on light in the aquatic
environment, such as those by Jerlov or Kirk, did not adequately address
this topic. This article has been used by professor Peter Sheng of the
University of Florida in his graduate course on estuarine modeling.