Huthnance, J., Karunarathna, H., Lane, A., Manning, A.J., Norton, P., Reeve, D., Soulsby, R.L., Spearman, J., Surendran, S., Townend, I. and Wright, A. (2008) Development of estuary morphology models. In: 43rd Defra Flood and Coastal Management Conference, 1-3 July 2008, Manchester University.
Estuaries are key areas in UK flood risk and coastal erosion management, needing well-validated models to predict morphology. The Estuaries Research Programme (ERP) addresses the challenge of predicting longer-term morphological changes. Project FD2107(Defra/Agency, 2008) in ERP aimed to enhance “Hybrid” models combining elements and advantages of “top-down” and process-based “bottom-up” approaches. Developments include:
• An Analytical Emulator, based on 1-D hydrodynamics in a schematised estuary, indicating total area/volume response to water levels and tidal range;
• A Hybrid Regime model, combining 1-D hydrodynamics with regime relations between discharge, cross-section area and width which evolve for changed conditions;
• Morpho-SandTrack, with 2-D hydrodynamics, sediment dynamics, particle-tracking to change morphology; flow is re-calculated as bathymetry evolves;
• A Realignment model, with 2-D flow and waves to spread sediment and predict local changes in morphology and saltmarsh due to managed realignment;
• ASMITA (pre-existing) programmed in Matlab; sediment enters accommodation space, evolving the size of aggregated intertidal areas and channels;
• An Inverse model evolving depth in 2-D according to a diffusion equation plus “source” derived from past depth changes.
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
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