Coastal Current Systems and the Movement and Expansion of Suspended Sediment from Changjiang River Estuary

This paper, with NOAA/AHHRR data for 2 years, discusses the expanding path and extent of suspended sediment from the Changjiang River, and the relationship between the suspended sediment expanding and coastal current systems by analyzing the thermal infrared imagery with the sediment imagery, which is acquired by correlating the atmosphere corrected AVHRR imagery with in-situ suspended sediment data. The coastal current systems affecting the sediment dispersal mainly include： the Taiwan Warm Current （TWC）, the Huanghai Sea Mixed Water （HSMW）, North Jiangsu near-shore current, and Zhejiang near-shore current etc. In winter, the current systems are stable. Their distribution affects the sediment from north Jiangsu expanding toward the Changjiang estuary in some degree .The front between Zhejiang coastal current and TWC blocks the expanding of sediment toward the sea. In the flood season, apart from the limitation by coastal current systems, the spatial and temporal distribution of suspended sediment is also affected by the runoff, which shows as the jet stream and fresh water. Spring and autumn are the transitional periods of the forming of expanding patterns of flood season and winter respectively. In addition, the re-suspended sediment caused by the wind wave may make the expanding range of near-shore sediment larger.

Variations in tidal currents and suspended sediment concentration of the upper part of the North Channel of Changjiang Estuary over the past 10 years

The tidal current duration （TCD） and velocity （TCV） and suspended sediment concentration （SSC） were measured in the dry season in December, 2011 and in the flood season in June, 2012 at the upper part of the North Channel of Changjiang Estuary. They were assimilated with the measured data in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007, using the tidal range＇s proportion conversion. Variations in TCD and TCV, preferential flow and SSC have been calculated. Influences of typical engineering projects such as Qingcaosha fresh water reservoir, Yangtze River Bridge, and land reclamation on the ebb and flood TCD, TCV and SSC in the North Channel for the last 10 years are discussed. The results show that： （1） currently, in the upper part of North Channel, the ebb tide dominates; after the construction of the typical projects, ebb TCD and TCV tends to be larger and the vertical average ebb and flood SSC decrease during the flood season while SSC increases during the dry season; （2） changes in the vertical average TCV are mainly contributed by seasonal runoff variation during the flood season, which is larger in the flood season than that in the dry season; the controlling parameters of increasing ebb TCD and TCV are those large-scale engineering projects in the North Channel; variation in SSC may result mainly from the reduction of basin annual sediment loads, large-scale nearshore projects and so on.

Quantitative Application Study on Remote Sensing of Suspended Sediment

Quantitative application on remote sensing of suspended sediment is an important aspect of the engineering application of remote sensing study. In this paper, the Xiamen Bay is chosen as the study area. Eleven different phases of the remote sensing data are selected to establish a quantitative remote sensing model to map suspended sediment by using remote sensing images and the quasi-synchronous measured sediment data. Based on empirical statistics developed are the conversion models between instantaneous suspended sediment concentration and tidally-averaged suspended sediment concentration as well as the conversion models between surface layer suspended sediment concentration and＂ the depth-averaged suspended sediment concentration. On this basis, the quantitative application integrated model on remote sensing of suspended sediment is developed. By using this model as well as multi-temporal remote sensing images, multi-year averaged suspended sediment concentration of the Xiamen Bay are predicted. The comparison between model prediction and observed data shows that the multi-year averaged suspended sediment concentration of studied sites as well as the concentration difference of neighboring sites can be well predicted by the remote sensing model with an error rate of 21.61% or less, which can satisfy the engineering requirements of channel deposition calculation.

Study on the Seasonal Variation of the Suspended Sediment Distribution and Transportation in the East China Seas Based on SeaWiFS Data

The monthly mean suspended sediment concentration in the upper layer of the East China Seas was derived from the retrieval of the monthly binned SeaWiFS Level 3 data during 1998 to 2006. The seasonal variation and spatial distribution of the suspended sediment concentration in the study area were investigated. It was found that the suspended sediment distribution presents apparent spatial characteristics and seasonal variations, which are mainly affected by the resuspension and transportation of the suspended sediment in the study area. The concentration of suspended sediment is high inshore and low offshore, and river mouths are generally high concentration areas. The suspended sediment covers a much wider area in winter than in summer, and for the same site the concentration is generally higher in winter. In the Yellow and East China Seas the suspended sediment spreads farther to the open sea in winter than in summer, and May and October are the transitional periods of the extension. Winds, waves, currents, thermocline, halocline, pycnocline as well as bottom sediment feature and distribution in the study area are important influencing factors for the distribution pattern. If the 10rag L^-1 contour line is taken as an indicator, it appears that the transportation of suspended sediment can hardly reach 124^o00＇E in summer or 126^o00＇E in winter, which is due to the obstruction of the Taiwan Warm Current and the Kuroshio Current in the southern Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.

Intratidal and neap-spring variations of suspended sediment concentrations and sediment transport processes in the North Branch of the Changjiang Estuary

Profles of tidal current and suspended sediment concentration （SSC） were measured in the North Branch of the Changjiang Estuary from neap tide to spring tide in April 2010. The measurement data were analyzed to determine the characteristics of intratidal and neap-spring variations of SSC and suspended sediment transport. Modulated by tidal range and current speed, the tidal mean SSC increased from 0.5 kg/m3 in neap tide to 3.5 kg/ma in spring tide. The intratidal variation of the depth-mean SSC can be summarized into three types： V-shape variation in neap tide, M-shape and mixed M-V shape variation in medium and spring tides. The occurrence of these variation types is controlled by the relative intensity and interaction of resuspension, settling and impact of water exchange from the rise and fall of tide. In neap tide the V-shape variation is mainly due to the dominant effect of the water exchange from the rise and fall of tide. During medium and spring tides, resuspension and settling processes become dominant. The interactions of these processes, together with the sustained high ebb current and shorter duration of low-tide slack, are respon- sible for the M-shape and M-V shape SSC variation. Weakly consolidated mud and high current speed cause significant resuspension and remarkable flood and ebb SSC peaks. Setting occurs at the slack water periods to cause SSC troughs and formation of a thin flufflayer on the bed. Fluxes of water and suspended sediment averaged over the neap-spring cycle are all seawards, but the magnitude and direction of tidal net sediment flux is highly variable.

Flood-ebb asymmetry in current velocity and suspended sediment transport in the Changjiang Estuary

Time series measurements were conducted on suspended sediment and current velocity from neap tide to spring tide in the South Branch of the upper Changjiang Estuary in the summer of 2011. Strong flood-ebb asymmetry in the current velocity was observed in the South Branch as a result of high river runoff and tide deformation, in which the magnitude and duration of ebb currents were significantly greater than those of flood currents. The suspended sediment concentration（SSC） and suspended median grain size also exhibited remarkable flood-ebb variation; these variables were considerably larger during the ebb than during the flood and increased from neap to spring tide. Affected by the strong asymmetry in the current velocity and SSC between the flood and ebb,suspended sediment flux during the ebb was notably larger than during the flood, and a seaward tidal net flux was observed in each tidal cycle. The balance of sediment flux illustrates that the seaward sediment transport was dominated by river flow and tidal trapping and the landward sediment transport was dominated by the Stokes drift and the shear effect. Notable resuspension occurred during the spring and moderate tides. The critical velocity for the resuspension of bed sediments was estimated based on the correlation between current velocity with SSC and suspended median grain size. The results show that the critical velocity was approximately 40 cm/s during the flood phases and approximately 80 cm/s during the ebb phases because the surficial flood bed sediments located in the lower reach are much finer than the surficial ebb bed sediments located in the upper reach. The flood-ebb variation in the critical erosion velocity has significant effect on the intratidal variation of SSC and sediment transport process, and it is a common phenomenon in many estuaries of the world due to the complicated spatial distribution of bed sediments.

Assessment of total suspended sediment concentrations in Poyang Lake using HJ-1A/1B CCD imagery

We explored the potential of the environment and disaster monitoring and forecasting small satellite constellations (HJ-1A/1B satellites) charge-coupled device (CCD) imagery (spatial resolution of 30 m, revisit time of 2 days) in the monitoring of total suspended sediment (TSS) concentrations in dynamic water bodies using Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, as an example. Field surveys conducted during October 17-26, 2009 showed a wide range of TSS concentration (3-524 mg/L). Atmospheric correction was implemented using the Fast Line-of-sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes (FLAASH) module in ENVI with the aid of aerosol information retrieved from concurrent Terra/Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surveys, which worked well at the CCD bands with relatively high reflectance. A practical exponential retrieval algorithm was created between satellite remote sensing reflectance and in-situ measured TSS concentration. The retrieved results for the whole water area matched the in-situ data well at most stations. The retrieval errors may be related to the problem of scale matching and mixed pixel. In three selected subregions of Poyang Lake, the distribution trend of retrieved TSS was consistent with that of the field investigation. It was shown that HJ-1A/1B CCD imagery can be used to estimate TSS concentrations in Poyang Lake over synoptic scales after applying an appropriate atmospheric correction method and retrieval algorithm.

Temporal and spatial changes of suspended sediment concentration and resuspension in the Yangtze River estuary

A detailed analysis of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) variations over a year period is presented using the data from 8 stations in the Yangtze River estuary and its adjacent waters, together with a discussion of the hydrodynamic regimes of the estuary. Spatially, the SSC from Xuliujing downwards to Hangzhou Bay increases almost constantly, and the suspended sediment in the inner estuary shows higher concentration in summer than in winter, while in the outer estuary it shows higher concentration in winter than in summer, and the magnitude is greater in the outer estuary than in the inner estuary, greater in the Hangzhou Bay than in the Yangtze River estuary. The sediments discharged by the Yangtze River into the sea are resuspended by marine dynamics included tidal currents and wind waves. Temporally, the SSC shows a pronounced neap-spring tidal cycle and seasonal variations. Furthermore, through the analysis of dynamic mechanism, it is concluded that wave and tidal current are two predominant factors of sediment resuspension and control the distribution and changes of SSC, in which tidal currents control neap-spring tidal cycles, and wind waves control seasonal variations. The ratio between river discharge and marine dynamics controls spatial distribution of SSC.

A review on quantitative analysis of suspended sediment concentrations

Information on the concentration of suspended sediments in coastal waters is necessary for the understanding and management of the coastal environment. Traditionally, suspended sediment concentration （SSC） has been measured by time-consuming and costly boat surveys which allow the accurate measurement of SSC for single points in space and time. In order to obtain the instantaneous measurement of SSC, a variety of remote sensing method has been adopted. Remote sensing from airborne and spaceborne sensors has been proven to be a useful adjunct to such surveys as it provides an instantaneous and synoptic view of sediments that would otherwise be unavailable. Dominique Durand and Jerome Bijaoui in 2000 presented a feasible study on optical remote sensing of shallow-water environmental parameters. Yogesh C. Agrawal and H. C. Pottsmith in 2001 tried to use Laser Diffraction Sensors to measure Concentration and Size Distribution of Suspended Sediment. Francisco Pedocchi and Marcelo H. Garcia in 2006 made an evaluation of the LISST-ST instrument for suspended particle size distribution and settling velocity measurements. H.K.Ha and W-Y.Hsu in 2009 tried to measure suspended cohesive sediment concentration using ADV backscatter strength. Shuisen Chen, Ligang Fang in 2009 managed to use remote sensing of turbidity in seawater intrusion reaches of Pearl River Estuary. In this article, the brief review of most of the technologies or methods used to observe the suspended sediment concentration is executed. As the most powerful technology in the remote sensing, acoustic backscatter device is discussed in detail. A comparison between those traditional and modern technologies is made to clarify its future application and development.

Remote Sensing Retrieval of Surface Suspended Sediment Concentration in the Yellow River Estuary

Accurate assessment of surface suspended sediment concentration （SSSC） in estuary is essential to address several important issues： erosion, water pollution, human health risks, etc. In this study, an empirical cubic retrieval model was developed for the retrieval of SSSC from Yellow River Estuary. Based on sediments and seawater collected from the Yellow River and southeastern Laizhou Bay, SSSC conditions were reproduced in the laboratory at increasing concentrations within a range common to field observations. Continu- ous spectrum measurements of the various SSSCs ranging from 1 to 5700 mg/1 were carried out using an AvaField-3 spectrometer. The results indicated the good correlation between water SSSC and spectral reflectance （Rrs） was obtained in the spectral range of 726-900 nm. At SSSC greater than 2700 mg/L, the 740-900 nm spectral range was less susceptible to the effects of spectral reflectance saturation and more suitable for retrieval of high sediment concentrations. The best correlations were obtained for the reflectance ratio of 820 nm to 490 nm. Informed by the correlation between Rrs and SSSC, a retrieval model was developed （R2 = 0.992）. The novel cubic model, which used the ratio of a near-infrared （NIR） band （740-900 nm） to a visible band （400-600 nm） as factors, provided robust quantifica- tion of high SSSC water samples. Two high SSSC centers, with an order of 103 mg/1, were found in the inversion results around the abandoned Diaokou River mouth, the present Yellow River mouth to the abandoned Qingshuigou River mouth. There was little sedi- ment exchange between the two high SSSC centers due to the directions of the residual currents and vertical mixing.

Experimental Study on Suspended Sediment Concentration and Its Vertical Distribution under Spilling Breaking Wave Actions in Silty Coast

In this paper, flume experiments are focused on sediment transport inside and outside the surf zone. According to the energy dissipation balance principle of sediment-laden flow and the similarity between energy dissipation of spilling breaking wave and hydraulic jump, formulas are proposed to predict time averaged suspended sediment concentration under both non-breaking and breaking waves. Assuming that the sediment diffusion coefficient, which is related with energy dissipation, is proportional to water depth, formulas are proposed to predict close-to-bed suspended sediment concentration and vertical distribution of suspended sediment under spilling breaking waves, and the prediction shows a good agreement with the measurement.

Modeling of suspended sediment transport with wave-induced longshore current in Huanghe (Yellow) River Delta

A three-dimensional suspended sediment model （SED） developed by the present authors is coupled with the combinatorial model of COHERENS （Luyten et al., 1999） （the three-dimensional coupled hydrodynamical-ecological model for Regional and Shelf Seas） and SWAN （Holthuijsen et al., 2004） （the third generation wave model）. SWAN is regarded as a subroutine of COHERENS and gets time- and space-varying current velocity and surface elevation from COHERENS. COHERENS gets time- and space- varying wave relevant parameters provided by SWAN. Effects of wave on current are applied in bottom shear stress, wave-induced depth-dependent radiation stress and surface drag coefficient calculation. At the same time, the damping function of suspended sediment on turbulence is introduced into COHERENS. So the sediment model SED has feedback on circulation model COHERENS. The SED obtains current associated parameters from COHERENS. Then a coupled hydrodynamic-sediment model COHERENS-SED being able to account for interaction between wave and current is obtained. COHERENS-SED is adopted to simulate three-dimensional suspended sediment transport in the Huanghe River delta. In terms of simulation results, there is obvious difference between top and bottom layer of wave-induced longshore current. The values of time series of sediment concentration gotten by COHERENS-SED have, generally, an accepted agreement extent with measurement. Significant wave heights and wave periods obtained by COHERENS-SED show that wave simulation case with currentts effect can give better agreement extent with measurement than case without current＇s effect. In the meantime, suspended sediment concentration distributing rule obtained by COHERENS-SED is similar to former researches and measurement.

Suspended Sediment Transport and Deposition in the Zhoushan Archipelago Sea Area

The transport mechanism and settlement characteristics of suspended sediments are analyzed in this article on the basis of measured data. Results indicate that the concentration and flux of suspended sediments decrease sharply from Hangzhou Bay to the offshore area. Suspended sediment transport is mainly controlled by advection transport and gravitational circulation transport. The settling velocity of suspended sediments gradually decreases from Hangzhou Bay to the offshore area. The settlement of suspended sediments mainly takes place during the turning phase of the tidal currents.

Daily and Monthly Suspended Sediment Load Predictions Using Wavelet Based Artificial Intelligence Approaches

In the current study, the efficiency of Wavelet-based Least Square Support Vector Machine （WLSSVM） model was examined for prediction of daily and monthly Suspended Sediment Load （SSL） of the Mississippi River. For this purpose, in the first step, SSL was predicted via ad hoc LSSVM and Artificial Neural Network （ANN） models; then, streamflow and SSL data were decomposed into sub- signals via wavelet, and these decomposed sub-time series were imposed to LSSVM and ANN to simulate discharge-SSL relationship. Finally, the ability of WLSSVM was compared with other models in multi- step-ahead SSL predictions. The results showed that in daily SSL prediction, LSSVM has better outcomes with Determination Coefficient （DC）=o.92 than ad hoc ANN with DC=o.88. However unlike daily SSL, in monthly modeling, ANN has a bit accurate upshot. WLSSVM and wavelet-based ANN （WANN） models showed same consequences in daily and different in monthly SSL predictions, and adding wavelet led to more accuracy of LSSVM and ANN. Furthermore, conjunction of wavelet to LSSVM and ANN evaluated via multi-step-ahead SSL predictions and, e.g., DCLssVM=0.4 was increased to the DCwLsSVM=0.71 in 7- day ahead SSL prediction. In addition, WLSSVM outperformed WANN by increment of time horizon prediction.

QUANTITATIVE MODELING OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENT IN MIDDLE CHANGJIANG RIVER FROM MODIS

Remote sensing techniques have been widely used to observe bodies of water. Among satellite sensors commonly used for water quality studies, the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) has potential in water quality monitoring, because of its moderate spatial resolution and high temporal resolution. In this paper, the utility of MODIS data for suspended sediment monitoring in the middle Changjiang (Yangtze) River is studied. It is concluded that suspended sediment concentration correlates well with reflectance values (R1-R2)/(R1+R2) retrieved from MODIS 250m image data (R2=0.72, n=41). Based on this correlation, we obtain the empirical model of suspended sediment concentration in the middle Changjiang River from MODIS. It is shown that it is useful for MODIS data to monitor this parameter of water quality.

Estimation of suspended sediment flux from acoustic Doppler current profiling along the Jinhae Bay entrance

A Nortek acoustic Doppler current profiler (NDP) was installed on a moving vessel to survey the entrance to the Jinhae Bay on August 22~23, 2001. The current velocity and acoustic backscattering signal were collected along two cross-sections; water samples were also collected during the measurement. The acoustic signals were normalized to compensate for the loss incurred by acoustic beam spreading in the seawater. The in situ calibration shows that a significant relationship is present between suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) and normalized acoustic signals. Two acoustic parameters have been determined to construct an acoustic-concentration model. Using this derived model, the SSC patterns along the surveyed cross-sections were obtained by the conversion of acoustic data. Using the current velocity and SSC data, the flux of suspended sediment was estimated. It indicates that the sediment transport into the bay through the entrance has an order of magnitude of 100 t per tidal cycle.

Distribution and fluxes of suspended sediments in the offshore waters of the Changjiang (Yangtze) Estuary

The offshore waters of the Changjiang Estuary are the transitional areas where river-supplied water and sediment are transported to the sea, and material exchanges occur with the neighbored Hangzhou Bay and the Jiangsu waters. Field observations of currents and sediment properties were conducted to study temporal and spatial distributions of suspended sediments under various dynamical conditions. The high sediment concentrations were found to occur in the western and southern waters of the offshore, and the low concentrations occurred in the eastern and northern waters. This pattern of the suspended sediment concentration （SSC） distribution is obviously influ- enced by the runoff and tidal current. The significant difference of along-estuary SSC distribution indicates that the SSC is reduced gradually from the west to the east, and that in the spring tide is obviously higher than in the neap tide. The methods of mechanism analysis and equal-area grids were used to calculate the suspended sediment fluxes at the typical cross sections. It was found that 44 percent of total suspended sediments from the Changjiang River were deposited in the submarine delta, and more than 27 percent of sediments were transported southernly into the Hangzhou Bay, and only 9 percent of sediments was supplied and exchanged with the northern Jiangsu waters, and about 20 percent of sediments was delivered offshore to the sea.

Analysis on Suspended Sediment Deposition Rate for Muddy Coast of Reclaimed Land

A new expression for calculating suspended fine-sediment deposition rate is developed based on theoretic analysis and experiments. The resulting equation is applied to simulation of fine sediment deposition in the reclaimed land in the Hangzhou Bay, China. The hydrodynamic environment in this area is solved by use of a long wave model, which gives the 2D-velocity field and considers bathymetric changes due to fine sediment deposition. The expression is proved convenient to use in engineering practice, and the predicted deposition rate agrees with the annual data available from field measurements from the first year to the third year after the construction of the long groin as a reclaiming method.

Delineating suspended sediment concentration patterns in surface waters of the Changjiang Estuary by remote sensing analysis

Three Landsat TM imageries （taken on 18 May 1987,4 August 1998 and 28 July 2007） were used as the data source to identify the spatial and temporal variations of the suspended sediment concentration （SSC） in surface waters of the Changjiang Estuary.Atmospheric correction was carried out to determine the water-leaving reflectance using the FLAASH module.A regression equation between surveyed SSC and suspended sediment index was chosen to retrieve the SSC from the Landsat TM images.In addition,tidal harmonic analysis was performed to calculate tidal conditions corresponding to the acquisition time of satellite images.The results show that the SSC spatial patterns are similar to the in situ observation results,which show the highest SSC in the region of turbidity maximum zone in the Changjiang Estuary.For the period of 1987 to 2007,the SSC pattern is controlled mainly by tidal dynamic conditions and wind speeds,rather than sediment discharges from the river.

Grain-size distribution patterns of suspended sediment in response to hydrodynamics on the Dafeng intertidal flat, Jiangsu, China

Patterns of grain-size distributions of suspended sediment in relation to resuspension, settling, and tidal processes are investigated, based on in situ measurements over the Dafeng intertidal flat, on the Jiangsu coast, in the summer of 2002 and 2003. The suspended sediment here is dominated by fine and very fine silt, with a mean grain-size of 7 - 13 μm. The patterns of the grainsize distributions of suspended sediment during a tidal cycle are characterized by two types： one stable type representing insignificant spatial and temperal variations; and the other bimedal type with significant variations. The main factors influencing the grainsize distributions include resnspension, settling, suspended sediment imported into intertidal flats during the flood phase, and the grain-size distribution of seabed sediment. Resuspension increases the coarse particle content, enhances the mean grain-size of suspended sediment, and results in grain-size distributions for the suspended sediment similar to those of seabed sediment; the settling process has opposite effects on the suspended sediment. When resuspension occurs, the gain-size distributions of suspended sediment in the lower part of water column respond significantly to the current velocity. Where the influence of resuspension and settling processes is weak, the grain-size distributions of suspended sediment appear to be stable and almost identical for the various parts of intertidal flats during different measurement periods. Such distributions are referred to the background grain-size distribution, for which the mean grain-size over the Dafeng intertidal flat is around 7 μm.