IMPACT OF RIVERINE DELIVERY ON TIDAL DYNAMICS OF YELLOW RIVER DELTA

Under the changing environment, the riverine delivery from the Yellow River has been seen a drastic decrease, which causes a shift of the dominance of the fluvial dynamics in recent years and results in change of dominance of fluvial and coastal dynamics. This study uses an advanced modelling framework to study the impact of river discharge on the tide dynamics in vicinity of the Yellow River Delta (YRD) through the harmonic analysis of the computed tides in the Bohai Sea. The results show that the river discharge has a significant effect on tide dynamics near the YRD, limited influence further afield in the Bohai Sea. The tidal dynamics show a noticeable difference in the deltaic channel and the intertidal zone with a range of river discharges imposed. Qualitatively, out of 29 tidal constituents analysed, the O1, K1 and M2, which are the most significant tidal constituents around active Yellow River channel, are found to be noticeably affected by the river discharge with decreased tidal amplitudes. Some higher frequency tidal constituents are also affected by the river discharge.