Journal
ESTUARINE COASTAL AND SHELF SCIENCE
Volume 205, Issue -, Pages 10-20Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecss.2018.03.010
Keywords
Lagrangian coherent structures; Surface drifter; Transport barrier; Finite-time Lyapunov exponent; Pearl river estuary
Categories
Funding
- Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, China [201607020042]
- Public Science and Technology Research Funds Projects of Ocean [201205015]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41206071, 41176162]
- Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS [QYZDJ-SSW-DQC034]
- Self-research Program of the State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography [LTOZZ1503]
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Knowledge of horizontal transport pathways is important for the protection of the marine ecosystem in coastal areas. In this paper, we develop a 3D model to simulate hydrodynamics and particle transport in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), Southern China, to study the barriers to transport in the PRE. Specifically, we use the flow velocity produced by the model to locate Lagrangian coherent structures (LCSs) hidden in ocean surface currents. Our findings show that a remarkable LCS begins upstream near the Humen inlet, extends to the Wanshan Islands via Neilingding Island, and can act as a transport barrier in the estuary. This LCS appeared 1-2 h after high tide and was persistent for 6-7 h during every ebb tide. Particles released on the west side of the LCS moved downstream, exited the estuary by Daxi Channel, and seldom spread to the east side, especially the Hong Kong Sea area. An analysis of several scenarios suggested that the formation of this LCS was due to topography restrictions and tidal forces. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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