Impact of Reduced Fluvial Sediment Supply on Saltwater Intrusion in the Yangtze Estuary

A decline of the fluvial sediment supply leads to coastal erosion and land loss. However, the fluvial sediment load may influence not only coastal morphodynamics but also estuarine hydrodynamics and associated saltwater intrusion. Previous studies revealed that suspended sediments influence estuarine hydrodynamics through various flow...

Mechanisms Controlling the Distribution of Net Water Transport in Estuarine Networks

Net water transport (NWT) in estuaries is important for, for example, salt intrusion and sediment dynamics. While NWT is only determined by river runoff in single channels, in estuarine networks, it results from a complex interplay between tides and residual flows. This study aims to disentangle the various contributions of these physical...

Dependence of tides and river water transport in an estuarine network on river discharge, tidal forcing, geometry and sea level rise

Estuaries are often characterised by a complex network of branching channels, in which the water motion is primarily driven by tides and fresh water discharge. For both scientific reasons and management purposes, it is important to gain more fundamental knowledge about the hydrodynamics in such networks, as well as their implications for...

Seasonal variation of floc population influenced by the presence of algae in the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Estuary

The variation of the floc population in the Changjiang Estuary has been studied for both winter and summer season as a function of the presence of living (micro)algae. The influence of algae has been characterized through the use of the chlorophyll-a concentration to suspended sediment concentration (CC/SSC) ratio. Two whole tidal cycle...

Decadal morphological evolution of the mouth zone of the Yangtze Estuary in response to human interventions

The morphology of the Yangtze Estuary has changed substantially at decadal time scales in response to natural processes, local human interference and reduced sediment supply. Due to its high sediment load, the morphodynamic response time of the estuary is short, providing a valuable semi-natural system to evaluate large-scale estuarine...