Numerical Assessment of the Impacts of Potential Future Sea‐Level Rise on Hydrodynamics of the Yangtze River Estuary, China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Kuang, C.; Chen, W.; Gu, J.; Zhu, D.Z.; He, L., and Huang, H., 2014. Numerical assessment of the impacts of potential future sea‐level rise on hydrodynamics of the Yangtze River Estuary, China. Recent research suggests that sea levels are rising even faster than projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Under a sea level rise (SLR) scenario, estuarine and coastal areas would be affected first. In this paper, the effects on the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE) by potential future SLR are studied using a hydrodynamic (MIKE21) model. The model is calibrated with field data. Scenarios of 0.5, 1, and 2 m SLR in the flood season are simulated with the calibrated model. The predicted results show that under SLR (1) the tidal level of the YRE increases and its increase rate decreases gradually upstream along the channel; (2) the tidal wave propagates at a faster speed upstream, which leads to the advancement of a tidal limit and tidal current limit to the upstream; (3) the increases i...