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Along-channel variability of Total Exchange Flow in a narrow; well-mixed estuary: influence of the M4 tide
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DOI：10.5194/os-22-1861-2026.png)
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Abstract
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Abstract. This study provides preliminary estimates of Total Exchange Flow (TEF) along the Guadalquivir River Estuary (Spain) at different cross-sections during low river flows. The analysis combines 3 years of observations from a real-time monitoring network with an analytical exchange flow scenario featuring a sectionally-homogeneous M2+M4 oscillating tidal flow and salinity. Exchange profiles and volume and salinity transports sorted by salinity classes are computed. The results indicate that bulk along-channel TEF estimates decrease upstream. The largest net incoming water volume transport; on the order of 300 m3 s−1; is attained at the lower part of the estuary; near where the largest salinity gradient is observed. This value is about 12-fold the normal river flow from the head dam at Alcalá del Río. Knudsen bulk quantities are consistent with the weakly-stratified character of the Guadalquivir estuary; whose mixing completeness is larger than 67 % at all cross-sections. The covariance between M2 salinity and current seems to play a more important role in exchange flow in the Guadalquivir estuary than the effects due to tidal asymmetry. Overall; the inclusion of the M4 improves TEF estimates in ∼ 10 % in the Guadalquivir estuary. A sensitivity analysis shows that in other estuaries and semi-enclosed basins the effects of the M4 could be even larger. The inclusion of the M4 constituent changes the exchange flow profile by salinity class; modifying the range of salinities of both outflows and inflows.
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