Modelled salinity values and episodes of critical salinities over 63 years in an estuary with bivalves of commercial interest

Abstract

ObjectivesThis dataset is the result of a numerical model that estimates salinity in an estuary of high interest to commercial bivalve fisheries. The estuary is subject to periodic low salinity events that cause high mortalities and economic losses. Although the estuary has a salinity monitoring system, its sensors hang from a floating platform, so the data collected are not measured close to the bottom and their position relative to the bottom varies with the tide. Therefore, their values are not representative of the salinity stress to which the bivalves are subjected. For this reason, a model was developed to estimate salinity at 1 m above the bottom and at high tide. These conditions have been defined as those necessary to detect episodes of low salinities that can generate bivalve mortality events.Data descriptionThe dataset includes the estimated daily salinity in the estuary from 7 January 1961 to 31 December 2023. In addition, for each of the 63 years of the series, another dataset is included containing the number of critical salinity episodes, as a function of salinity thresholds and their duration, that could have caused mortality events of different intensity of bivalves of commercial interest.