Author(s): Deng Jiaquan; Liu Cheng; Yu Zengxin
Linked Author(s): Jiaquan Deng
Keywords: Words: Salinity intrusion; Pearl River Estuary; Sea level rise; Global climate change
Abstract: In recent years, the salinity intrusion in the Pearl River Estuary is getting more active; duration is longer, scope is larger and intensity is stronger. It has brought a serious influence on the drinking water for 15 million people in the Delta. This paper analyzes the factors affecting salinity intrusion: the sea level rise caused by global climate warming enhance the tidal dynamic; the successive drought weaken the runoff dynamic that press the intrusion; the increases of water evaporation and consumption due to the global climate warming and urban development; the river undercut caused by illegal sand excavation changes the river topography and leads to the increase of the tidal prism, tide range and eventually the tidal dynamic.
Year: 2013