Long-Term Evolution of Columbia River Tides
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 4
Abstract
A 170 km tidal channel connects the lower Columbia River ports of Portland and Vancouver to the Pacific Ocean. An increasing incidence of low water levels during summer and fall sometimes limits the draft of ships using the channel and can delay transits. Reduced spring freshet water levels have also decreased shallow-water habitat for juvenile salmon. Records from Tongue Point (km-30, 1925-date), and Vancouver (km-175, 1902-date) were used to analyze historic changes. Mean water levels (MWL) at Vancouver have dropped since 1902, depending on flow. Lower low water (LLW) at the lowest river flows has decreased since 1940. Vancouver LLW has dropped more than MWL and higher high water (HHW), increasing tidal range. Tides in the Columbia and many other river ports are evolving because of a combination of changing ocean tides and local alterations, including both harbor development and river-flow modification. Assessments of climate change impacts on harbors need to consider both factors.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Bonneville Power Administration (contract UNSPECIFIEDCR-105418), NOAA-Fisheries and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC), and the National Science Foundation under grant NSFOCE-0929055.
References
Amin, M. (1983). “On perturbations of harmonic constants in the Thames estuary.” Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 73, 587–603.
Bottom, D. L., et al. (2005). “Salmon at river’s end: The role of the estuary in the decline and recovery of Columbia River salmon.” U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA Tech. Memo., NMFS-NWFSC-68, 246.
Buijsman, M., et al. (2002). “Regional sediment budget of the Columbia River littoral cell, USA, Analysis of bathymetric- and topographic-volume change.” USGS Open-File Rep. 02-281, USGS, Reston, VA.
DiLorenzo, J. L., Huang, P., Thatcher, M. L., and Najarian, T. O. (1993). “Dredging impacts of Delaware estuary tides.” Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Sponsored by the Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Division, ASCE Estuarine and Coastal Modeling III, Oak Brook, IL, 86–104.
Dronkers, J. J. (1964). Tidal computations in rivers and coastal waters, North-Holland, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 296–304.
Flick, R. E., Murray, J. F., and Ewing, L. C. (2003). “Trends in United States tidal datum statistics and tide range.” J. Waterw. Port Coastal Ocean Eng., 129, 155–164.
Hamlet, A. F., and Lettenmaier, D. P. (2007). “Effects of 20th century warming and climate variability on flood risk in the western U.S.” Water Resour. Res., 43, W06427.
Huber, P. J. (1996). “Robust statistical procedures.” CBMS-NSF regional conf. series in applied mathematics society of industrial and applied mathematics, 2nd ed., 68.
Jay, D. A. (1991). “Green’s law revisited: Tidal long wave propagation in channels with strong topography.” J. Geophys. Res., 96, 20585–20598.
Jay, D. A. (2009). “Evolution of tidal amplitudes in the eastern Pacific Ocean,” Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L04603.
Jensen, J., Mudersbach, C. H., and Blasi, C. H. (2003). “Hydrological changes in tidal estuaries due to natural and anthropogenic effects.” Proc., 6. Int. MEDCOAST 2003-Conf., Ravenna, Italy.
Kukulka, T., and Jay, D. A., (2003a). “Impacts of Columbia River discharge on salmonid habitat: I. A non-stationary fluvial tide model.” J. Geophys. Res., 108, 3293.
Kukulka, T., and Jay, D. A. (2003b). “Impacts of Columbia River discharge on salmonid habitat: II. Changes in shallow-water habitat.” J. Geophys. Res., 108, 3294.
LeBlond, P. H. (1978). “On tidal propagation in shallow rivers.” J. Geophys. Res., 83, 4717–4721.
Leffler, K., and Jay, D. A. (2009). “Enhancing tidal harmonic analysis: Robust (hybrid L1/L2) solutions.” Cont. Shelf Res., 29, 78–88.
Mote, P., Petersen, A., Reeder, S., Shipman, H., and Whitely Binder, L. (2008). “Sea level rise in the coastal waters of Washington State.” Univ. of Washington Climate Impacts Group, and Washington Department of Ecology.
Naik, P. K., and Jay, D. A. (2005). “Virgin flow estimation of the Columbia River (1879–1928).” Hydrol. Processes, 19(9), 1807–1824.
Naik, P., and Jay, D. A. (2010). “Human and climate impacts on Columbia River hydrology and salmonids.” River Res. Appl.
Parker, B. B. (1991). “The relative importance of the various nonlinear mechanisms in a wide range of tidal interactions (Review).” Tidal hydrodynamics, B. B. Parker, ed., Wiley, Chichester, UK, 237–268.
Woodworth, P. L., Shaw, S. M., and Blackman, D. L. (1991). “Secular trends in mean tidal range around the British Isles and along the adjacent European coastline.” Geophys. J. Int., 104, 593–609.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 31, 2009
Accepted: Dec 3, 2010
Published online: Dec 6, 2010
Published in print: Jul 1, 2011
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.