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Preliminary results of a finite-element, multi-scale model of the Mahakam Delta (Indonesia)

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Abstract

The Mahakam is a 980-km-long tropical river flowing in the East Kalimantan province (Borneo Island, Indonesia). A significant fraction of this river is influenced by tides, the modelling of which is the main subject of this study. Various physical and numerical issues must be addressed. In the upstream part of the domain, the river flows through a region of three lakes surrounded by peat swamps. In the lowland regions, the river is meandering and its hydrodynamics is mostly influenced by tides. The latter propagate upstream of the delta, in the main river and its tributaries. Finally, the mouth of the Mahakam is a delta exhibiting a high number of channels connected to the Makassar Strait. This article focusses on the flow in the delta channels, which is characterised by a wide range of time and space scales. To capture most of them, the depth-integrated and the section-integrated versions of the unstructured mesh, finite-element model Second-Generation Louvain-la-Neuve Ice-Ocean Model are used. Unstructured grids allow for a refinement of the mesh in the narrowest channels and also an extension of the domain upstream and downstream of the delta in order to prescribe the open-boundary conditions. The Makassar Strait, the Mahakam Delta and the three lakes are modelled with 2D elements. The rivers, from the upstream limit of the delta to the lakes and the upstream limit of the domain, are modelled in 1D. The calibration of the tidal elevation simulated in the Mahakam Delta is presented. Preliminary results on the division of the Eulerian residual discharge through the channels of the delta are also presented. Finally, as a first-order description of the long-term transport, the age of the water originating from the upstream limit of the delta is computed. It is seen that for May and June 2008, the time taken by the water parcel to cross the estuary varies from 4 to 7 days depending on the channel under consideration.

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Notes

  1. www.climate.be/slim

  2. https://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/online_delivery/gebco/

  3. http://www.oce.orst.edu/research/po/research/tide/index.html

  4. http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/cdc/data.ncep.reanalysis.surfaceflux.html

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Acknowledgements

The present study was carried out in the framework of the project “Taking up the challenges of multi-scale marine modelling”, which is funded by the Communauté Française de Belgique under contract ARC 10/15-028 (Actions de recherche concertées) with the aim of developing and using SLIM (www.climate.be/slim). Eric Deleersnijder is a research associate with the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S-FNRS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering (IMMC), Université catholique de Louvain, 4 Avenue G. Lemaître, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Benjamin de Brye, Sébastien Schellen & Eric Deleersnijder

  2. Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, Wageningen, Gld, The Netherlands

    Maximiliano Sassi, Bart Vermeulen & Ton Hoitink

  3. Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research (TECLIM), Université catholique de Louvain, 2 Chemin du Cyclotron, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Benjamin de Brye, Sébastien Schellen & Tuomas Kärnä

  4. Earth and Life Institute (ELI), Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research (TECLIM), Université catholique de Louvain, 2 Chemin du Cyclotron, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Eric Deleersnijder

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  1. Benjamin de Brye
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  2. Sébastien Schellen
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  3. Maximiliano Sassi
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  6. Eric Deleersnijder
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Correspondence to Benjamin de Brye.

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Responsible Editor: Phil Peter Dyke

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Joint Numerical Sea Modelling Group Workshop 2010

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de Brye, B., Schellen, S., Sassi, M. et al. Preliminary results of a finite-element, multi-scale model of the Mahakam Delta (Indonesia). Ocean Dynamics 61, 1107–1120 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-011-0410-y

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