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Lateral Saltwater Intrusion in the North Channel of the Changjiang Estuary

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Abstract

Saltwater intrusion typically develops in the along-channel direction but exceptions can be found in bifurcated estuaries. Based on the observational data, we found that the saltwater intrusion in the upper reaches of the North Channel (NC) of Changjiang Estuary is dominated by the lateral saltwater intrusion from a small northern outlet (denoted as NONC) of this channel. This phenomenon has severe effects on the freshwater usage in this region. To investigate the underlying mechanisms of this pattern of intrusion, numerical experiments were conducted using a well-validated model. A flux decomposing method was used to decompose the process of saltwater intrusion into several mechanisms. During the neap tide, the saltwater begins to intrude landward into the NONC through shear transport induced by estuarine circulation. During the transition period between the neap tide and the following spring tide, the saltwater that previously reached the NONC further intrudes into the NC via Lagrangian and tidal pumping transports, causing a significant salinity increase in the middle and upper reaches of the NC. During the spring tide and the subsequent middle tide, saltwater intrusion in the NONC retreats. The impacts of the topography of the NONC and the wind stress on this lateral saltwater intrusion were also evaluated in this study.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the “Creative Research Group” of Natural Science Foundation of China (41021064), National Basic Scientific Research Program of Global Change (2010CB951201), National Natural Science Foundation of China (41176071), and Open Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research (SKLEC-KF201312). We thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, 220 Handan Rd, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Lu Li & Zhigang Guo

  2. State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, 3663 Zhongshan Rd. N, Shanghai, 200062, People’s Republic of China

    Lu Li, Jianrong Zhu & Hui Wu

Authors
  1. Lu Li
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  2. Jianrong Zhu
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  3. Hui Wu
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  4. Zhigang Guo
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Correspondence to Jianrong Zhu.

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Communicated by Carl T. Friedrichs

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Li, L., Zhu, J., Wu, H. et al. Lateral Saltwater Intrusion in the North Channel of the Changjiang Estuary. Estuaries and Coasts 37, 36–55 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9669-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9669-1

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