About two-thirds of global freshwater supplies come from surface waters such as the tidal fresh region of estuaries. A number of coastal and open-ocean processes may affect the oceanic salt intrusion into estuaries and tidal rivers, including sea-level rise, changing ocean circulation, changing tides, and wind events. However, we have little understanding of how these processes work in concert with extended drought to drive the extreme salt intrusion under climate change. This gap in scientific understanding has been exposed in a number of headline news reports on the salt contamination of drinking water supplies in tidal rivers. Three outstanding issues have been identified. First, there has been no international effort to synthesize the regionally distributed scientific findings on this emerging topic and identify priorities for future research. Second, the salt content of the riverine/seawater mixture includes salts produced during runoffs from the land surface and may have a relative salt composition different from that of seawater. Third, hydrodynamic models used to study the salt intrusion employ a number of numerical schemes, varying grid resolutions, and different parameterization schemes for unresolved subgrid processes. Best practices are needed to guide the model development.
This SCOR Working Group will bring together an international team of experts to discuss recent research on salt intrusion around the world. Our goal is to develop a global synthesis of this emerging topic, discern the roles of global climate change and local oceanic processes, and develop tools for observing, modeling and analyzing salt intrusion into tidal rivers.
- Chair(s)
- Ming Li (USA), Hans Burchard (Germany)
- Other Full Members
- Julie Pietrzak (Netherlands), Nadia Pinardi (Italy), Isabel Jalon-Rojas (France), Yuley Cardona (Colombia), Megan Williams (Chile), Rich Pawlowicz (Canada), Antonio M. Hoguane (Mozambique), Wenping Gong (China-Beijing)
- Associate Members
- Debora Bellafiore (Italy), Manuel Diez-Minguito (Spain), Gisselle Guerra (Panama), Shinichiro Kida (Japan), John Largier (USA), Ruth Musgrave (Canada), Charitha Pattiaractchi (Australia), Rosario Sanay (Mexico), Carlos Augusto Schettini (Brazil), Arnoldo Valle-Levinson (USA), Hui Wu (China-Beijing)
- Reporter
- Yukio Masumoto
- Terms of Reference
Conduct a comparative analysis of selected case studies on the salt intrusion into estuaries and tidal rivers, gain a better understanding of the coastal and open-ocean processes that influence the salt intrusion, and identify gaps in knowledge and priorities for future research.
Synthesize existing modeling studies of estuaries and tidal rivers, conduct model inter-comparison studies, and produce a best practice manual for model configurations such as grid resolutions and mixing/dispersion parameterizations.
Analyze chemical composition of riverine/oceanic water mixtures using a global database of river chemistry and the data collected by the WG members. Develop an improved equation of state for the riverine-seawater mixture.
Conduct data analysis to identify conditions conducive to enhanced salt intrusion in different types of estuaries by leveraging site-specific studies conducted by the SCOR WG members and their collaborators. Build a Github for sharing the data analysis programs.
Develop a global synthesis of oceanic salt intrusion into estuaries and tidal rivers and discern the roles of river flows, sea-level rise, regional sea level fluctuations, changes in tides, and winds in driving extreme salt intrusion and salt contamination of water supplies.
Build capacity, share knowledge and transfer technical skills, particularly to scientists in developing nations.
- Approved
- October 2024
- Financial Sponsors
- SCOR, NSF