An estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM) results from various subtidal sediment transport mechanisms related to, e.g., river, tides, and density gradients, which have been extensively analysed in single-channel estuaries. However, ETMs have also been found in estuaries composed of multiple interconnected tidal channels, where the water and suspended fine sediments are exchanged at the junctions with possible occurrence of sediment overspill. The overall aim of this study is to understand the processes that determine the ETM dynamics in such channel networks. Specifically, focusing on the ETMs formation due to sediment transport by river flow and density-driven flow, the dependence of ETM locations in an idealised three-channel network on fluvial sediment input and the local deepening and narrowing of a seaward channel is investigated. It is found that the ETM dynamics in channels of a network is coupled, and hence, changes in one channel affect the ETM pattern in all channels. Sensitivity results show that, keeping river discharge fixed, a larger fluvial sediment input leads to the upstream shift of ETMs and an increase in the overall sediment concentration. Both deepening or narrowing of a seaward channel may influence the ETMs in the entire network. Furthermore, the effect of either deepening or narrowing of a seaward channel on the ETM locations in the network depends on the system geometry and the dominant hydrodynamic conditions. Therefore, the response of the ETM location to local geometric changes is explained by analysing the dominant sediment transport mechanisms. In addition to the convergence of sediment transport mechanisms in single-estuarine channels, ETM dynamics in networks is found to be strongly affected by net exchange of sediment between the branches of a network. We find that considering the sensitivity of net sediment transport to geometric changes is needed to understand the changing ETM dynamics observed in a real estuarine network.

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Net water transport (NWT) in estuaries is important for, for example, salt intrusion and sediment dynamics. While NWT is only determined by river runoff in single channels, in estuarine networks, it results from a complex interplay between tides and residual flows. This study aims to disentangle the various contributions of these physical drivers to NWT in estuarine networks and investigate the sensitivities of NWT to variable forcing conditions, interventions, and sea level rise (SLR). To this end, a processes-based perturbative network model is developed, which accounts for the vertical flow structure to resolve density-driven flow driven by a vertically uniform along-channel salinity gradient. Other identified drivers are river discharge and three tidal rectification processes: Stokes transport and its return flow, momentum advection, and velocity-depth asymmetry. The model is applied to the Yangtze Estuary. NWT due to tidal rectifications and density-driven flow can be comparable to river discharge. Specifically in the North Branch, the direction of NWT may differ from the direction of river discharge. Varying river discharge mainly affects NWT as tide-river interaction is weak and density-driven flow is shown to be insensitive to salt intrusion. Conversely, variations in tidal amplitude strongly affect NWT related to tidal rectification and density-driven flow. The deepening (narrowing) of one channel (Deep Waterway Project), affected the NWT mostly through the density-driven flow (advection). Furthermore, NWT distribution in the Yangtze is insensitive to SLR up to 2 m because the effects of SLR on transport due to different drivers compensate each other.

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Estuaries are often characterised by a complex network of branching channels, in which the water motion is primarily driven by tides and fresh water discharge. For both scientific reasons and management purposes, it is important to gain more fundamental knowledge about the hydrodynamics in such networks, as well as their implications for turbidity and ecological functioning. A generic 2DV estuarine network model is developed to study tides and river water transport and to understand the dependence of their along-channel and vertical structure on forcings, geometry characteristics and sea level changes. The model is subsequently applied to the Yangtze Estuary to investigate tides and the distribution of river water over channels during dry and wet season, spring tide, as well as prior to and after the formation of Hengsha Passage and the construction of the Deep Waterway Project and sea level rise. Increasing river discharge enhances the friction for tides by increasing both internal and bottom stresses. Changes in tidal forcing are correlated with the friction for both tide and river. A shortcut channel reduces the water level difference in adjacent channels, as well as tidal amplitudes difference. Sea level rise results in larger friction parameters and faster propagation of tides. The distribution of river water transport is hardly affected by above mentioned changes. Model results and current vertical structure are consistent with observations.

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The role of the Coriolis effect in the initial formation of bottom patterns in a tidal channel is studied by means of a linear stability analysis. The key finding is that the mechanism generating oblique tidal sand ridges on the continental shelf is also present in confined tidal channels. As a result, the Coriolis effect causes the fastest growing pattern to be a combination of tidal bars and oblique tidal sand ridges. Similar as on the continental shelf, the Coriolis-induced torques cause anticyclonic residual circulations around the ridges, which lead to the accumulation of sand above the ridges. Furthermore, an asymptotic analysis indicates that the maximum growth rate of the bottom perturbation is slightly increased by the Coriolis effect, while its preferred wavelength is hardly influenced.@en

Tidal bars are repetitive estuarine bedforms with heights of several meters and wavelengths in the order 1–15 km. Understanding their formation and sensitivity to changes in channel characteristics is important as they hamper marine traffic and play a crucial role in the local ecosystem. Recent observations suggest that the local width of the channel is dominant in determining the tidal bar wavelength. However, theoretical studies could not reproduce the sensitivity of the tidal bar wavelength to channel width. This discrepancy between theory and observations suggests that a mechanism is missing. In this study, one of the theoretical models is extended and results in tidal bar wavelengths, lateral mode numbers, and growth rates that agree fairly well with those of natural tidal bars, including the wavelengths dependency on estuary width. An important extension of the model concerns the bed slope induced diffusive suspended load transport of sediments. With this, it is explained why previously, the modelled tidal bar wavelengths depend only weakly on estuary width and why in the extended model it does. This has, from a modelling point of view, general implications for morphological models using a total load sediment transport formulation with a so-called bed slope parameter.

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This paper presents thickness-weighted averaging (TWA) in generalized vertical coordinates as a unified framework for a variety of existing tidal-averaging concepts in seas and estuaries. Vertical profiles of resulting residual quantities depend on the specific vertical coordinate, which is held fixed during the averaging process. This dependence is demonstrated through the application to one-dimensional analytical tidal flow with sediment transport, to field observations from a tidal channel, and to model results from a two-dimensional estuary. The use of different coordinate systems provides complementary views on the residual dynamics and stresses the importance of a correct interpretation of residual quantities obtained by tidal averaging.

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