INVESTIGATION OF SALINITY VARIABILITY IN A SMALL MULTI-CHANNEL ESTUARY

In the present paper, the cross-correlation, multiple regression, salinity and velocity decomposition techniques were employed to analyze the short and long-term variations of salinity and flow rate in the Ota estuary. We considered the effect of the freshwater discharge, the tidal range, the activities of wind and the mean sea level on the salinity variations. Although the freshwater discharge plays the most important role in the variations of salinity, the results show high correlation between the along-channel component of the wind and the estuarine salinity changes. The direction of the net salt transport was landward during spring tides and low flow conditions. Though, the direction of net salt flux was seaward during most part of the observation period.