Estuaries often show regions in which Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) accumulates. The location and magnitude corresponding to such accumulation result from a complex interplay between processes such as river flushing, salinity, nutrients, grazing on phytoplankton, and the light climate in the water column. An example is the multi-annual evolution of the estuary-scale Chl-a distribution in the Scheldt estuary (Belgium/Netherlands) in spring. From 2004–2007, we observed a limited spring bloom in the brackish region (km 60–90 from the mouth, salinity ∼ 1–10 ppt). This bloom intensified in 2008–2014 and disappeared after 2015. This multi-annual evolution of Chl-a has been hypothesized to be linked to simultaneous multi-annual trends in the suspended particulate matter (SPM) distribution in summer and winter between 1995–2015 and the improvement of the water quality (e.g., reduction of ammonium), which affects grazing on phytoplankton by zooplankton. However, this hypothesis has not been systematically investigated. In this contribution, we apply a modeling approach in which observations are the core. We first analyze multi-annual in situ observations covering the full estuary. These observations include the SPM concentration, zooplankton abundance, and other variables affecting the Chl-a concentration. They show a multi-annual estuary-scale evolution not only in the SPM distribution but also in zooplankton abundance, freshwater discharge, and phytoplankon photosynthetic characteristics. Next, we apply a model approach that consists of an extensive sensitivity study and four model scenarios that are supported by these observations to constrain the processes and corresponding parameter variability that may have caused the observed change in Chl-a. Our results suggest that a change in SPM alone cannot explain the Chl-a observations. Instead, a multi-annual change in mortality rate, which we can attribute to both grazing by zooplankton and phytoplankton community (i.e., mortality dependence on salinity), may explain the multi-annual estuary-scale evolution of Chl-a in spring. Different model parameter choices may thus lead to similar model results (equifinality). Our results highlight that insight into the zooplankton dynamics and phytoplankton community characteristics is essential to understand the phytoplankton (cf. Chl-a) dynamics in the Scheldt estuary and that additional data regarding mortality and grazing rates is required to further constrain the model parameters.

Many estuaries exhibit seasonality in the estuary-scale distribution of suspended particulate matter (SPM). This SPM distribution depends on various factors, including freshwater discharge, salinity intrusion, erodibility, and the ability of cohesive SPM to flocculate into larger aggregates. Various authors indicate that biotic factors, such as the presence of algae and their excretion of sticky transparent exopolymer particles (TEP), affect the flocculation and erosion processes. Consequently, seasonality in these biotic factors may play a role in the observed seasonality in SPM. Whereas the impact of abiotic factors on seasonality in SPM is well studied, the relative contribution of biotically induced seasonality is largely unknown. In this study, we employ two approaches to assess the aggregated importance of biotically induced seasonality in flocculation and erosion on seasonality in SPM in the Scheldt estuary. In the first approach, we focus on seasonality of in situ observations in the Scheldt estuary of turbidity, floc size, Chlorophyll-a, and TEP, showing that the abiotic parameters show seasonality, while seasonality in TEP is ambiguous. The second approach concerns a reverse engineering method to calibrate biotically affected parameters of a coupled sediment transport-flocculation model to turbidity observations, allowing us to compare the modeled SPM concentrations to the observations. Driven by seasonality in freshwater discharge, the model captures the observed seasonality in SPM without requiring biotically induced seasonality in flocculation and erosion, which is supported by the absence of seasonality in TEP.

Background: The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set limits on sulphur content in fuels for marine transport. However, vessels continue to use these residual high-sulphur fuels in combination with exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS or scrubbers). Next to high sulphur, combustion of these fuels also results in higher emissions of contaminants including metals and PAHs. In scrubbers, exhaust gases are sprayed with water in order to remove SOx, resulting in acidic washwater with elevated contaminant concentrations discharged in the aquatic ecosystem. The number of vessels with scrubbers is increasing rapidly, but knowledge on washwater quality and impact are limited. Results: The scrubber washwater is found to be acidic with elevated concentrations of, e.g. zinc, vanadium, copper, nickel, phenanthrene, naphthalene, fluorene and fluoranthene. Model calculations on the effects of scrubber discharge under scenario HIGH (20% of vessels, 90th percentile concentrations) on the water quality in harbour docks showed a decrease in pH of 0.015 units and an increase in surface water concentrations for e.g. naphthalene (189% increase) and vanadium (46% increase). Conclusions: The IMO established sulphur regulations to mitigate the impact of high sulphur emissions of the maritime sector. However, the use of open-loop scrubbers as an abatement technology will not reduce their contribution to ocean acidification. In addition, different types of scrubbers discharge washwater that is acutely toxic for aquatic organisms. However, washwater is diluted and the compounds for which a large increase in surface water concentrations was calculated in the Antwerp (Belgium) harbour docks (naphthalene > phenanthrene > fluorene > acenaphthene > vanadium) were not the compounds that already exceed their respective Water Quality Standards (WQS). Nevertheless, the WQS of several ‘priority hazardous substances’ (Water Framework Directive) are already exceeded in the docks and the Scheldt estuary. Since these hazardous substances are also identified in the washwater, scrubber washwater discharge should be discouraged in coastal waters and estuaries with large ecological value.

Sediment transport in estuaries and the formation of estuarine turbidity maxima (ETM) highly depend on the ability of suspended particulate matter (SPM) to flocculate into larger aggregates. While most literature focuses on the small-scale impact of biological flocculants on the formation of larger aggregates, the influence of the flocculation process on large-scale estuarine SPM profiles is still largely unknown. In this paper, we study the impact of flocculation of SPM on the formation of ETM. For this, a semianalytical width-integrated model called iFlow is utilized and extended by a flocculation model. Starting from a complex one-class flocculation model, we show that flocculation may be described as a linear relation between settling velocity and suspended sediment concentration to capture its leading-order effect on the ETM formation. The model is applied to a winter case in the Scheldt estuary (Belgium, Netherlands) and calibrated to a unique, long-term, two-dimensional set of turbidity (cf. SPM) observations. First, model results with and without the effect of flocculation are compared, showing that the spatial and temporal variations of the settling velocity due to flocculation are essential to reproduce the observed magnitude of the suspended sediment concentrations and its dependence on river discharge. Second, flocculation results in tidally averaged land-inward sediment transport. Third, we conduct a sensitivity analysis of the freshwater discharge and floc breakup parameter, which shows that flocculation can cause additional estuarine turbidity maxima and can prevent flushing of the ETM for high freshwater inflow.