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Proceedings of the International Workshop on Environmental Hydraulics, IWEH09, 29 & 30 October 2009, Valencia, Spain, p. 173-175

DOI: 10.1201/b10999-45

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Dynamics of Ss in the Guadalquivir Estuary: Monitoring Network and Database Management

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Abstract

The description of the climatic agents that control and definen the Guadalquivir River estuary dynamics is made from a dataset made up of experimental measurements from the study site together with external sources. The complete database comprises wave, wind, atmospheric pressure, meteorological and astronomic tide, water inflow, turbidity, salinity, and other relevant parameters in water quality. Such information has been derived from data monitoring in (1) maritime stations in front of the river mouth at different water depth, (2) fluvial stations along the main channel of the river and different tributaries to the estuary, and finally (3) different stations located along the contributing area to the estuary. Data sources are varied (ICMAN, Puertos del Estado, Junta de Andalucía, etc.) anda t least monthly updating is made, with many variables weekly updated to monitore sudden increases in suspended sediment concentrations. The final result is a continuous quasi-real time monitoring of forcing agents in the estuary together with the state variables relevant for different processes. Global management of the database is made through PROGE, a Matlab program with a visual interface, where the information from each monitoring point is gathered in a structure, providing not only a quick and easy access and visualization of the data, but also a precise and complete information of the monitoring process, and post-processing análisis. 1 INTRODUCTION Estuaries form and area is constantly altered by the erosion and deposition of sediment along their extent, and strongly affected by the variations in the sea level at different time scales. Their wide range of forms is the result of the complex interaction between riverine and marine processes. Estuaries are continually evolving, changing their shape, adapting to changes in river flow and weather pattern, changing the phase and amplitude of the input signals, with effects on salinity, temperature, suspended sediments (SS) and nutrients distribution in water in time and space [1] . In estuaries, sediment dynamics is a complex process where tidal cycles, density currents, freshwater inflows and mixing atmospheric agents, among others, interact determining deposition and erosion patterns and suspended sediment concentration distribution and evolution. Suspended sediments in seawater tend to flocculate, diverting from their behaviour in the fluvial reaches upstream. Suspended sediment concentration in water may greatly influence other state variables such as dissolved oxygen, turbidity, temperature, density… and thus poses a big threat for the ecological state of waters. Most of the estuaries along the developed countries coastline are strongly modified by dam regulation upstream and socioeconomical uses of the estuary area, such as agriculture and acuiculture, and tourism. An integrated management not only of water resource but also of soil use in their contributing area is a necessary approach to restore and preserve the diversity of life and nutrient fluxes in our estuaries. The Guadalquivir River Estuary in Southern Spain is a good example of such demanding situation, with a great reduction of freshwater input due to the great regulation system upstream along the river, periodic dredge labors to maintain navigation upstream to Seville Port, and acuiculture systems and big rice crop areas downstream which require low suspended sediment concentration and moderate levels of salinity in water, respectively. But to model rigorously SS dynamics in such an estuary requires to couple riverine and marine hydrodynamics together with a proper biogeochemical analysis to evaluate its current state and trend, and to simulate future states under different management strategies and/or subject to sea level rise and climate variability trends. A big amount of data from the system must be processed to include all relevant processes in the analysis and to feed and calibrate the final models [2] .