Baroclinic Effect on Inner-Port Circulation in a Macro-Tidal Estuary: A Case Study of Incheon North Port, Korea

Abstract

This study investigated the flow patterns and affecting factors in the North Port of Incheon, South Korea, to understand the inner-port circulation characteristics by applying an unstructured grid finite volume community ocean model (FVCOM) together with a field survey. The FVCOM considered the tide, river discharge, surface winds, and atmospheric pressure with the highest resolution of 50 m around the port. The model results were validated with current velocity and salinity observations. In the main channel, the difference in salinity between the sea surface and bottom increased during the neap tide due to weakened tidal currents, thus strengthening the stratification. However, at the inner port, strong stratification was observed during spring tide as the near-surface freshwater from upstream of the estuary moved relatively farther south of the port than that during the neap tide. Freshwater flowed into the port during the flood current and was trapped in the semi-closed geometry of the inner port. The horizontal salinity gradient between the trapped fresher water in the port and saltier water in the main channel increased during the flood current. As a result, density-driven circulations associated with near-bed currents towards the port were maintained for more than 3 h after high tide. This result implies that the baroclinic effect, mainly due to the salinity gradient in the North Port, could significantly affect residual circulation at the inner harbor in a macro-tidal environment and the mass transport mechanism, such as sediment transport. In general, such enhanced baroclinic effects due to salinity and tides are not limited to the North Port and can have greater effects on inner-port circulation in other macro-tidal harbors that suffer from severe sedimentation problems.

Oceanic Environmental Impact in Seaports

“…Cutroneo et al [21] measured the bottom current within the Port of Genoa, Italy, and found that the current speed in the innermost part of the port was less than 0.05 m/s. Jeong et al [22] numerically showed that the inner zone of the North Port of Incheon, South Korea, experienced very limited water circulation even during the period with steep hydraulic gradients when the tide was rising or falling. During stagnant water periods, the water was found to have degraded, with increased sediment.…”

Abnormal surges and the effects of the Seto Inland Sea circulation in Hiroshima Bay, Japan

“…Furthermore, the average net flux can be interpreted as a residual current. The residual current is critical for determining the movement of floating materials, such as river-borne materials (microplastics, driftwood, and minerals) (Dou et al, 2014;Sagawa et al, 2018;Jeong et al, 2022) and phytoplankton (Zhang et al, 2021). It plays an even more important role in semienclosed bays because the current determines the residence time, a period taken to wash pollutants flowing in the bay off to the open ocean (Patgaonkar et al, 2012;Kwak and Cho, 2020).…”