Abstract
The main marine hydrological factors that influence the regime and structure of river mouths, including the mean (background) sea level, waves, tides, and storm surges, are discussed. Special attention is given to the long-term changes in the water levels of the World Ocean and in related seas that occurred during the XIX–XX centuries and to the predicted considerable sea level rise in the XXI century. The role of natural and anthropogenic land subsidence in variations of water levels in river deltas is assessed. The main hydrological and morphological processes at river mouths related to the sea level rise are considered. Special attention is given to the discussion of insufficiently studied problems such as changes in the characteristics of tides and storm surges under the condition of the sea level rise and nonlinear interaction of these phenomena.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bol’shiyanov, D.Yu., Makarov, A.S., Shnaider, V., and Shtof, G., Proiskhozhdenie i razvitie del’ty reki Leny (Origin and Development of Lena Delta), St. Petersburg: AANII, 2013.
Gidrologiya del’ty Dunaya (Danube Delta Hydrology), Moscow: GEOS, 2004.
Gidrologiya del’ty i ust’evogo vzmor’ya Kubani (Hydrology of the Delta and Nearshore Zone of the Kuban River), Moscow: GEOS, 2010.
Kravtsova, V.I., Mikhailov, V.N., and Kozyukhina, A.S., Hydrological-morphological and landscape features of the Niger River delta, Water Resour., 2008, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 121–136.
Mikhailov, V.N., Gidrologiya ust’ev rek (River Mouth Hydrology), Moscow: Izd. Mosk. Univ., 1998.
Mikhailov, V.N., Regularities in mouth processes, in Zakonomernosti gidrologicheskikh protsessov (Regularities in Hydrological Processes), Moscow: GEOS, 2012, pp. 609–686.
Mikhailov, V.N. and Dotsenko, M.A., Processes of delta formation in the mouth area of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, Water Resour., 2007, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 385–400.
Mikhailov, V.N. and Mikhailova, M.V., Deltas as indicators of natural and human-induced changes in the regimes of rivers and seas, Water Resour., 2003, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 602–612.
Mikhailov, V.N. and Mikhailova, M.V., Tides and storm surges in the Thames River estuary, Water Resour., 2012, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 351–366.
Mikhailov, V.N. and Mikhailova, M.V., Regularities in sea level rise impact on the hydrological regime and morphological structure of river deltas, Water Resour., 2010, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 1–15.
Mikhailov, V.N. and Mikhailova, M.V., Delta formation processes at the Mississippi River mouth, Water Resour., 2010, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 595–611.
Mikhailov, V.N. and Mikhailova, M.V., Physical basis of hydrological and morphological processes in river deltas, Vestn. RFFI, 2013, no. 2, vol. 78, pp. 26–33.
Mikhailov, V.N., Mikhailova, M.V., and Isupova, M.V., Hydrological and morphological processes at river mouths of the Caspian Sea region as possible analogs of expected changes of mouths of other rivers in Russia and the world, Water Resour., 2014, vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 489–504.
Mikhailova, M.V., The Hydrological regime and the peculiarities of formation of the Po River delta, Water Resour., 2002, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 370–381.
Mikhailova, M.V., Long-term variations in river and sea factors responsible for the hydrological regime and morphological structure of the Thames River mouth area, Water Resour., 2011, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 438–453.
Mikhailova, M.V., Interaction of tides and storm surges at the Elbe River mouth, Water Resour., 2011, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 284–297.
Mikhailova, M.V., Sediment balance at river mouths and the formation of deltas at rising or falling sea level, Water Resour., 2006, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 523–534.
Mikhailova, M.V., Processes of seawater intrusion into river mouths, Water Resour., 2013, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 483–498.
Polonskii, V.F., Lupachev, Yu.V., and Skriptunov, N.A., Gidrologo-morfologicheskie protsessy v ust’yakh rek i metody ikh rascheta (prognoza) (Hydrological Processes at River Mouth Areas and Methods for Their Calculation (Prediction), St. Petersburg: Gidrometeoizdat, 1992.
Ust’ya rek Kaspiiskogo regiona: istoriya formirovaniya, sovremennye gidrologo-morfologicheskie protsessy i opasnye gidrologicheskie yavleniya (River Mouths in the Caspian Region: Formation History, Modern Hydrological-Morphological Processes and Hazardous Hydrological Phenomena), Moscow: GEOS, 2013.
IPCC, 2013: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
Lonsdale, K.G., Downing, T.E., Nicholls, R.J., et al., Plausible responses to the threat of rapid sea-level rise in the Thames estuary, Climate Change, 2008, vol. 91, pp. 145–169.
Penland, S. and Ramsey, K.E., Relative sea-level rise in Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico: 1908-1988, J. Coastal Res., 1990, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 323–342.
Rossington, K. and Spearman, J., Past and future evolution in the Thames Estuary, Ocean Dynamics, 2009, no. 59, pp. 709–718.
Stengel, T. and Zielke, W., Recent and expected variations of the tide dynamics in the German Bight, in Sea level changes and their consequences for hydrology and water management. Intern. Workshop. Nordwijkerhout: UNESCO, 1993, pp. 83–92.
Syvitski, J.P.M., Deltas at risk, Sustain. Sci., 2008, no. 3, pp. 23–32.
Syvitski, P.M., Kettner, A.J., Overeem, I., Hutton, E.W.H., Hannon, M.T., Brakenridge, G.R., Day, J., Vörösmarty, C.J., Saito, Y., Giosan, L., and Nicholls, R.J., Sinking deltas http://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/bitstream/handle/1912/3207/SyvitskiDeltas_Paper.pdf?sequence=1
Töppe, A., Longtime cycles in mean tidal levels, Sea level changes and their consequences for hydrology and water management. Intern. Workshop, Nordwijkerhout: UNESCO, 1993, pp. 133–143.
Walker, H.J., Coleman, J.M., Roberts, H.H., and Tye, R.S., Wetland loss in Louisiana, Geografiska Annaler. Series A, Physical Geography, 1987, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 189–200.
Wells, J.T., Subsidence, sea-level rise, and wetland loss in the lower Mississippi River delta, in Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Subsidence, Dordrecht; Boston; London: Kluwer Acad. Publ., 1996, pp. 281–311.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © V.N. Mikhailov, M.V. Mikhailova, 2015, published in Vodnye Resursy, 2015, Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 367–379.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mikhailov, V.N., Mikhailova, M.V. Effect of long-term changes of marine factors on river mouths. Water Resour 42, 420–431 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0097807815040089
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0097807815040089