Anna Wünsche, Marius Becker, Ralf Fritzsch, Jessica Kelln, Christian Winter
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Tidal asymmetry in estuaries and other tidally dominated coastal systems is commonly evaluated to assess system states or their development. Based on different methods, local states are classified as either flood or ebb dominant. An increasing number of descriptors for deriving tidal asymmetry in recent years calls for a comparison and discussion of their sensitivity on input data and its quality. We compared tidal asymmetry from water level and current velocity using various descriptors that deduce from harmonic, ratio, and skewness methods. Computed from one-year measurements at different stations along the Ems estuary, their comparability was enabled by a new approach of scaling. Our results on the variation of sampling intervals demonstrated a highly site-specific sensitivity of the descriptors that led up to changes in the asymmetry direction in tidal duration asymmetry and phase lag. The slack water asymmetry appeared most sensitive to the studied parameter settings. As expected, variability of tidal asymmetry reduced with an increasing number of analyzed tides. At the same time, uncertainty from the asymmetry during spring or neap phases compared to spring-neap periods remained in all analyzed descriptors. Hence, the characterization of the estuary in terms of flood- or ebb-dominance depends critically on the quality and extent of the input data. For all parameter settings, the impact of river discharge on tidal asymmetry was pronounced but varied depending on the location in the estuary. The actual characterization of the effect of asymmetry, e.g., on sediment transport, is not conducted in this study. We propose that this requires a more comprehensive dataset, such as depth and cross-sectional variability of currents and sediment concentrations.
期刊介绍:
Ocean Dynamics is an international journal that aims to publish high-quality peer-reviewed articles in the following areas of research:
Theoretical oceanography (new theoretical concepts that further system understanding with a strong view to applicability for operational or monitoring purposes);
Computational oceanography (all aspects of ocean modeling and data analysis);
Observational oceanography (new techniques or systematic approaches in measuring oceanic variables, including all aspects of monitoring the state of the ocean);
Articles with an interdisciplinary character that encompass research in the fields of biological, chemical and physical oceanography are especially encouraged.