Nonlinear Tide-River-Surge Interactions and Their Impacts on Compound Flooding During Typhoon Hato in the Pearl River Delta

Abstract

In coastal areas, multiple hydrodynamic processes co-occur, including the astronomical tide, river discharge, and storm surge. Their propagation and interaction within coastal tidal river result in strong nonlinear behavior in inland areas. This study employed a hydrodynamic model and continuous wavelet transform analysis to investigate the complex tide-river-surge interactions and their impacts on compound flooding in the West River of the Pearl River Delta during an extreme typhoon event. Validated model outputs provided insights into the spatial and temporal variations of river discharge, water levels, and currents. Wavelet analysis revealed river discharge modulates tidal properties, causing nonstationary tides and asymmetries, with high flows suppressing tidal ranges but facilitating energy transfers to overtides. During Typhoon Hato, storm surges dominated high-frequency water level fluctuations that rapidly propagated upstream. Crucially, strong high-frequency tide-river-surge coupling induced significant water level amplifications, with interaction intensities increasing landward. In upstream areas where riverine and coastal drivers converged, flood risks exceeded typical estimates due to this vigorous multi-driver compounding. Findings highlighted how existing flood mitigation approaches over simplistically superposing individual sources may severely underestimate flood levels by neglecting such nonlinear interactions. A comprehensive accounting of the cumulative, multiplicative effects of tides, discharge, storm surge, and sea level rise is imperative. This quantitative unraveling of key physical drivers offers transferable insights applicable to compound flood risk evaluations and policy guidance for enhancing resilience in other estuary and delta regions. Future work should focus on holistically modeling multivariate extremes and their interactions.