Ebb- and flood tidal channels in scale-experiments of estuaries

Abstract

The occurrence of mutually evasive ebb- and flood tidal channels is one of the most typical features in tidal basins and estuaries (Fig. 1). While Van Veen already observed and described these striking elements in the 1950s, their forming mechanism is still largely unknown because of the challenges in numerical modelling and physical models of tidal systems. Recently, it was showed that a periodically tilting flume can generate dynamic tidal morphology (Kleinhans et al., 2015). In this study we investigate the formation and evolution of mutually evasive ebb- and flood tidal channels with measurements of water levels and tidal currents. We define the confluences of ebb- and flood channels as nodes, for which we will show that they behave as asymmetric stable bifurcations.