Numerical simulation of transportation of SPM from the Yellow River to the Bohai Sea

A 3D diagnostic model including a suspended sediment transport module, ECOMSED, driven by the monthly discharge and sediment load of the Yellow River in 1983~1984, was applied to the Bohai Sea. The simulation of the temporal-spatial variation of SPM (suspended particular matter) concentration, sediment flux, and deposition rate was carried out. It could be seen that, the SPM concentration exhibited distinct seasonal variation, and the variation characteristic was similar for two years. Some of the fine sediment of the Yellow River extended to the western bank of the Liaodong Bay, but most of the sediment deposited around the estuary of the Yellow River, the deposition flux rapidly decreasing with the increasing distance to the estuary. The deposition rate was kept at 0.05~0.1 mm/a for most area, close to the in-situ data. There were two areas of high SPM concentration in the Bohai Sea, one of which could be attributed to the Yellow River discharge, and another one, located at the seas with intensive resuspension power, could be attributed to the tidal current energy. The sediment from the Yellow River was transported mainly along the track of the Lagrangian residual circulations. In one word, the suspended load transport was basically attributed to the wind-driven and tidal-induced Lagrangian residual circulations. The resuspension flux was related to the bottom currents: the larger the current speed, the more the sediment resuspended.