Salt Transport Regimes Caused by Tidal and Subtidal Processes in Narrow Estuaries

Tidally averaged transport of salt in estuaries is controlled by various subtidal and tidal processes. In this study, we show the relative importance of various subtidal and tidal transport processes in a width-averaged sense. This is done for a large range of forcing and geometric parameters, which describe well-mixed to salt wedge estuaries...

Modeling centuries of estuarine morphodynamics in the Western Scheldt estuary

We hindcast a 110 year period (1860-1970) of morphodynamic behavior of the Western Scheldt estuary by means of a 2-D, high-resolution, process-based model and compare results to a historically unique bathymetric data set. Initially, the model skill decreases for a few decades. Against common perception, the model skill increases after that to...

Development and Extension of An Aggregated Scale Model: Part 1 – Background to ASMITA

Whilst much attention has been given to models that describe wave, tide and sediment transport processes in sufficient detail to determine the local changes in bed level over a relatively detailed representation of the bathymetry, far less attention has been given to models that consider the problem at a much larger scale (e.g. that of...

Revisiting linearized one?dimensional tidal propagation

In this paper we extend the validity of the classical linear solution for tidal hydrodynamics including the effects of width and depth convergence. Reworking such a solution in the light of externally defined, dimensionless parameters we are able to provide simple relationships to predict the most relevant features of the tidal wave at the...

Effect of bottom stress formulation on modelled flow and turbidity maxima in cross-sections of tide-dominated estuaries

A three-dimensional numerical model with a prognostic salinity field is used to investigate the effect of a partial slip bottom boundary condition on lateral flow and sediment distribution in a transect of a tidally dominated channel. The transect has a symmetrical Gaussian cross-channel bottom profile. For a deep, well-mixed, tidally dominated...

Modeling equilibrium bed profiles of short tidal embayments: On the effect of the vertical distribution of suspended sediment and the influence of the boundary conditions

In many tidal embayments, bottom patterns, such as the channel-shoal systems of the Wadden Sea, are observed. To gain understanding of the mechanisms that result in these bottom patterns, an idealized model is developed and analyzed for short tidal embayments. In this model, the water motion is described by the depth- and width-averaged shallow...