Relating estuarine turbidity maxima to tide and river conditions
Florent Grasso (Institut Francais de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer)
Eliott Bismuth (Institut Francais de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer)
Hans Burchard (Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde)
Sophie Defontaine (Institut Francais de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer, TU Delft - Mathematical Physics)
Frank Kösters (Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW))
Robert Lafite (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Caen Normandie)
Lloyd Reese (Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde)
Aldo Sottolichio (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut polytechnique de Bordeaux)
Thijs van Kessel (Deltares)
Joris Vanlede (Flanders Hydraulics Research)
Dirk Sebastian van Maren (Environmental Fluid Mechanics)
Régis Walther (Artelia)
Anna Zorndt (Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW))
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Abstract
Tidal rivers and estuaries may experience high levels of suspended particulate matter (SPM), which impacts water quality and ecosystem functioning. The processes controlling the development of estuarine turbidity maxima (ETM) are fairly well understood. However, predicting the maximum SPM concentration in an estuary based on aggregated parameters (estuarine dimensions, river discharge, tidal range) remains, up to now, impossible without extensive in-situ measurements and/or numerical models. This study introduces an approach that links the strength of the ETM to the tidal, river, and morphological characteristics of a system. Using in-situ data from contrasting meso- to macro-tidal estuaries, we found a consistent pattern of maximum SPM concentrations within a two-dimensional parameter space. The resulting turbidity diagram reveals a high SPM hotspot in estuaries with specific forcing conditions, corresponding to intermediate relative tidal amplitudes and freshwater Froude numbers. This multi-site research advances our predictions of ETM intensity in tide-dominated estuaries, offering a straightforward method to explore potential turbidity trajectories under various human pressures.
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