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Improving hydrodynamic modeling of an estuary in a mixed tidal regime by grid refining and aligning

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Abstract

Water levels and flows in the Singapore coastal waters are driven by the complex interactions of the Indian and Pacific Ocean tides, seasonal monsoon-driven contributions and also forced by local winds. The Singapore Regional Model was developed to simulate hydrodynamics in the Strait of Singapore which produces representative sea level variation in this region. However, resolution and alignment of the grid system of the model with respect to depth contours in some of its subregions, i.e., the Johor Estuary area require further improvement. For this, the grid system of the model was modified and compared the simulated results with field measurements. The computed flow velocities agreed better with field observations when the grid resolution was increased. However, improving the alignment of the grid with the channel boundary (with a much lower increase in grid resolution) provided a substantially larger improvement of the model performance. The grid modification greatly influenced the computed salinity in the estuary, while water levels are slightly affected. Further analysis of model results showed a pronounced ebb tidal asymmetry generated by the O1–K1–M2 tidal constituents in the estuary.

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Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Singapore-Delft Water Alliance (SDWA) and Jamie Lescinski for her help in redesigning the grid layout. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) is also acknowledged for providing access to their field data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Singapore-Delft Water Alliance, National University of Singapore, No. 2 Eng. Drive 2, Singapore, 117577, Singapore

    G. M. Jahid Hasan

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, 3114, Bangladesh

    G. M. Jahid Hasan

  3. Department of Coastal and Marine Systems, Deltares, Rotterdamseweg 185, Delft, the Netherlands

    Dirk Sebastiaan van Maren

  4. Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands

    Dirk Sebastiaan van Maren

  5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, 1 Eng. Drive 2, Singapore, 117576, Singapore

    Hin Fatt Cheong

Authors
  1. G. M. Jahid Hasan
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  2. Dirk Sebastiaan van Maren
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  3. Hin Fatt Cheong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. M. Jahid Hasan.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Chari Pattiaratchi

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Physics of Estuaries and Coastal Seas 2010

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Hasan, G.M.J., van Maren, D.S. & Cheong, H.F. Improving hydrodynamic modeling of an estuary in a mixed tidal regime by grid refining and aligning. Ocean Dynamics 62, 395–409 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-011-0506-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-011-0506-4

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