engleski

Is salt-water intrusion length reliable indicator for sea-level rise impacts in highly stratified estuaries?

This study examines indicators for sea-level rise (SLR) impact assessment in highly stratified estuaries. One of the most common SLR indicators in highly stratified estuaries is the salt-water intrusion length, which is expected to increase with rising sea levels. However, we show that intrusion length can produce misleading results under the influence of the channel geometry. Namely, the intrusion length may appear to be unaffected by SLR if the channel slope prevents a potential salt-water intrusion further upstream. Although salt-water volume can be a more reliable indicator in those cases, we show that the corrective freshwater flow rate is a much better choice for assessing the practical implications of SLR from the viewpoint of adaptation to climate change and implementation of suitable mitigation measures. For this purpose, we present some findings from the theoretical analysis of two- layer shallow water equations and numerical simulations in the Neretva River Estuary in Croatia.

climate change, sea level rise, estuaries, salt-wedge, salinity intrusion

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