Flood–Ebb and Discharge Variations in Observed Salinity and Suspended Sediment in a Mesotidal Estuary

Abstract

To explore the spatial and temporal variations in salinity and suspended-sediment concentration in the Danshuei River estuary of northern Taiwan, two intensive field surveys were conducted in July 2016 and 2019 to assign high- and low-flow conditions, respectively. According to the analysis of tidal characteristics, the duration during ebb tide was longer than that during flood tide, while the maximum ebb discharge was higher than the maximum flood discharge, causing the occurrence of tidal asymmetry during ebb and flood tides. The barotropic forcing dominated during high flow, resulting in lower salinity and a shorter distance of saltwater intrusion. Based on the analyzed results using stratification indices, most of the time was spent in the state of partial mixing at the Guandu Bridge and good mixing at the Taipei Bridge during high flow, while most of the time was spent in the states of partial mixing and good mixing at both Guandu Bridge and Taipei Bridge during low flow. More stratification occurred during high flow at high slack tide compared to that during low flow. The freshwater discharges from upriver reaches controlled the suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) in tidal estuaries. The higher SSC appeared downstream of the tidal estuary at ebb tide during high flow. Observations also revealed that there was an estuarine turbidity maximum at the bottom layer of Guandu Bridge.