Assessing the Influence of Sea Level Rise on Salt Transport Processes and Estuarine Circulation in the Changjiang River Estuary

Abstract

ABSTRACT Qiu, C. and Zhu, J., 2015. Assessing the influence of sea level rise on salt transport processes and estuarine circulation in the Changjiang River estuary. Global sea level rise has been greatly concerned by government and society with its effects on saltwater intrusion and material transport in estuaries, which threaten freshwater habitat and drinking water supplies. A semi-implicit estuarine, coastal, and ocean model (ECOM-si) was used to assess the influences of rising sea level on salt transport processes and estuarine circulation patterns in the Changjiang River estuary, China. The variations of intruding saltwater and residual salt transport were simulated according to the variations of several sea level rise scenarios, and results in typical year and dry year were demonstrated, respectively. The modeled results are in good agreement with the observed data, and statistics show good correlation coefficient and Skill Score values. Results from the numerical experiments show that the intensity...