Tidal-fluvial interaction in the Guadalquivir River Estuary: Spatial and frequency-dependent response of currents and water levels

This paper presents a study on the tidal-fluvial interaction in the highly regulated Guadalquivir River Estuary (SW Spain), which is occasionally subjected to high discharge episodes that affect navigational conditions and increase flood risks. The study specifically focuses on the processes and controlling mechanisms of the nonstationary response of water levels and currents to high discharges. Measurements show a 60 day postdischarge amplification of tidal current and elevation amplitudes and a clockwise rotation of the tidal ellipse in the upper layers. A decrease of amplitudes and an anticlockwise rotation predominate near the bed. Such episodes significantly increase the tidal wave celerity, and especially at high and low water. These features are due to the suspended sediment stratification triggered by the discharge event. The increase in stratification restricts frictional influence to bottom layers, partially decoupling the overlying flow from the bottom. A nonstationary harmonic decomposition method, intended for identifying which nonlinear terms in the governing hydrodynamic equations control overtide and compound tide generation, shows that quadratic bottom stress contributes the most during high discharge periods. The consequence in the subtidal balance is that, during peak discharge and in the upper stretches, friction is largely balanced by the water level gradient, although the density gradient term becomes comparable to the friction term soon after peak discharge. Advection is also important to the force balance in the lower estuary. For both parts, to correctly explain subtidal dynamics, it is necessary to account for the time variability of the friction coefficient due to flow-sediment feedback.