Impact of Climate Change on the Estuarine System

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Coastal Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 January 2025 | Viewed by 1169

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Physics Department, CESAM, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: climate change; coastal oceanography; coastal estuarine dynamics; aquaculture; numerical modelling; marine pollution
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Guest Editor
Centro de Investigación Mariña (CIM), Environmental Physics Laboratory (EphysLab), Universidade de Vigo, Campus da Auga, 32004, Ourense, Spain
Interests: physical oceanography; atmosphere–ocean interaction; climate change; renewable energies; atmospheric dynamics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, there is a special concern about the possible impact of climate change on estuarine systems and its consequences in contingent ecosystems. Estuarine ecosystems are susceptible to shifts in temperature, rising sea levels, and altered precipitation patterns. Rising global temperatures contribute to the thermal expansion of seawater, leading to an increase in sea levels that can result in coastal erosion and submersion of estuarine habitats. Additionally, changes in precipitation patterns may affect the amount and timing of freshwater input into estuaries, disrupting the delicate balance between salt and freshwater crucial for the diverse species inhabiting these areas. This can lead to the loss of critical nursery habitats for commercially important fish species. As climate change accelerates, these cumulative impacts threaten the biodiversity, ecological functions, and socio-economic services provided by estuarine systems, emphasizing the urgent need for effective mitigation and adaptation strategies.

This Special Issue aims to publish recent findings, notable achievements, and general insights about the assessment of the impacts of climate change on estuarine systems. Encompassing aspects such as tidal propagation, extreme events, estuarine plumes, sea level rise, alterations in precipitation, ocean acidification, salinity intrusion, water quality patterns, and aquaculture, the Issue welcomes contributions in the form of research articles, reviews, and case studies, among other relevant formats. The scope extends beyond the mentioned topics, encouraging a comprehensive exploration of the impacts of climate change on estuarine environments.

Dr. Magda Catarina Sousa
Dr. Ines Alvarez
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • climate change
  • estuarine environments
  • extreme events
  • estuarine plumes
  • hydrodynamic and water quality patterns

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 16800 KiB  
Article
Understanding Salinity Intrusion and Residence Times in a Small-Scale Bar-Built Estuary under Drought Scenarios: The Maipo River Estuary, Central Chile
by Karina Soto-Rivas, Raúl P. Flores, Megan Williams and Cristián Escauriaza
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2024, 12(7), 1162; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse12071162 - 10 Jul 2024
Viewed by 837
Abstract
The Maipo River estuary is a low-inflow bar-built estuary that includes a protected wetland, which harbors a rich ecosystem. The estuary and wetland have been threatened by a persistent drought for more than a decade, which has resulted in greater salinity intrusion and [...] Read more.
The Maipo River estuary is a low-inflow bar-built estuary that includes a protected wetland, which harbors a rich ecosystem. The estuary and wetland have been threatened by a persistent drought for more than a decade, which has resulted in greater salinity intrusion and increased residence times. Previous studies have described salinity and pollutants in estuaries; however, almost all have focused on deeper and/or wider estuaries with dimensions much larger than those of the small-scale Maipo River estuary. In this study, we used the numerical model FVCOM to simulate the dynamics of the Maipo River estuary under drought scenarios and explored the interactions between river discharge and tides in terms of saline intrusion and particle dispersal. The model was validated against observations collected during a field campaign near the river mouth. The simulations successfully reproduced the water surface elevation but underestimated salinity values, such that the vertical salinity structure observed in the field was not captured by the model in this shallow and morphologically complex estuary. Consequently, our model results provide qualitative insight related to salinity and baroclinic dynamics. Results of maximum saline intrusion showed an exponential decay with increasing river discharge, and the analysis of salinity intrusion time series revealed that droughts may cause permanent non-zero salinity levels in the estuary, potentially affecting ecological cycles. The incorporation of passive tracers showed that decreasing river discharge increases the residence time of particles by allowing the tracers to re-enter the estuary. Model results showed the formation of accumulation zones (hotspots) in the shallower zones of the estuary. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Climate Change on the Estuarine System)
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