Rapid shifts of the river plume pathway off the Huanghe （Yellow） River mouth in response to water-sediment regulation scheme in 2005

The Huanghe River (Yellow River), historically being considered as the second largest world river in terms of sediment load to the sea (approximately 10.8×108 t/a)1], has experienced drastic declines in its water and sediment fluxes to the coastal ocean over the past 50 years2,3]1). A series of consequences of decreasing water and sediment discharge emerged including frequent flow cutoff, lifting of riverbed elevation and lower capability of flood con- trolling. In July 2002 the Yellow Ri…

Rapid shifts of the river plume pathway off the Huanghe (Yellow) River mouth in response to water-sediment regulation scheme in 2005

Freshwater plume represents a key passage for the river to deliver sediment to the coastal ocean. A water-sediment regulation scheme was implemented for the Huanghe River in 2005; in order to examine the effect of such an activity on the river plume dynamics, three cruises were carried out off the Huanghe River mouth. The preliminary results of the in-situ measurements suggested that the plume pathway shifted rapidly during the period of less than twenty days, which was confirmed by satellite remote sensing data in the same period. The rapid shifts were resulted from intensive interactions between river discharge and the varying bathymetry in the river mouth area. A large amount of river sediment was delivered to the coastal region during this period and mostly deposited in the mouth bar area due to jet-flow deceleration, forming a cluster of mouth bars across the river mouth, which caused the rapid shifts of the plume pathway.