Tidal Hydrodynamics in the Lower Columbia River Estuary through Depth Averaged Adaptive Hydraulics Modeling

The adaptive hydraulics (AdH) numerical code was applied to study tidal propagation in the Lower Columbia River (LCR) estuary. The results demonstrate the readiness of this AdH model towards the further study of hydrodynamics in the LCR. The AdH model accurately replicated behavior of the tide as it propagated upstream into the LCR system. Results show that the MSf tidal component and the M4 overtidal component are generated in the middle LCR and contain a substantial amount of tidal energy. An analysis was performed to determine the causes of MSf tide amplification, and it was found that approximately 80% of the amplification occurs due to nonlinear interaction between the M2 and the S2 tidal components.