Wenping Gong

Sun Yat-Sen University | SYSU · School of Marine Sciences

In this study, we carried out a novel massive Lagrangian simulation experiment derived from a global 1/48° tide-resolving numerical simulation of the ocean circulation. This first-time twin experiment enables a comparison between Eulerian (fixed-point) and Lagrangian (along-flow) estimates of kinetic energy (KE), and the quantification of systemati...

Plain Language Summary Steric height is the sea surface height component associated with changes in water‐column density, and is typically contributed by ocean dynamic processes across a wide range of scales, from the large‐scale ocean circulation to the small‐scale wave motion. In this study, the effects of balanced motions (e.g., eddies and ocean...

Salt intrusion in estuaries has been exacerbated by climate change and human activities. Previous studies have primarily focused on salt intrusion in the mainstem of estuaries, whereas those in sub-estuaries (those that branch off their main estuaries) have received less attention. During an extended La Niña event from 2021 to 2022, a sub-estuary (...

Geographical distributions and frequency content of ocean surface kinetic energy (KE) are estimated in a 1/48° high-resolution global numerical model of the ocean circulation. Eulerian (fixed-point) KE rotary frequency spectra and band-integrated energy levels (e.g., low-frequency, tidal and near-inertial) are considered as references which are com...

Marine mammals often aggregate and forage in specific ‘hotspot’ areas, which are associated with the predictability of prey sources driven by certain oceanographic processes. However, our understanding of the interactions between marine predators and the oceanographic processes remains incomplete, particularly in near-coastal and estuarine regions....

Salt intrusion in estuaries has been exacerbated by climate change and human activities. Previous studies have primarily focused on salt intrusion in the mainstem of estuaries, whereas those in sub-estuaries (those branch off their main estuaries) have received less attention. During an extended La Niña event from 2021 to 2022, a sub-estuary (the E...

The baroclinic component of the sea surface height, referred to as steric height, is governed by geostrophically balanced motions and unbalanced internal waves, and thus is an essential indicator of ocean interior dynamics. Using yearlong measurements from a mooring array, we assess the distribution of upper-ocean steric height across frequencies a...

An idealized three‐dimensional numerical model is used to investigate turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) production in a far‐field river plume under upwelling‐favorable winds. TKE production decreases over longer length scales as the river plume thickens. Maximum TKE production appears in the surface layer and is mainly generated by the alongshore comp...

Previous studies have revealed the importance of short‐term bed‐level change on the long‐term development of intertidal ecosystems. One of the recent advancements in the short‐term bed dynamics observation is the developments of laser‐based surface elevation dynamics (LSED) and acoustic surface elevation dynamics (ASED) sensors. These two sensors a...

Estuaries usually feature complex bathymetries, where shoals and channels are co-existent. Due to the differences in water depth, current, density gradient and therefore stratification, sediment dynamics on the shoal and in the channel demonstrate significant variations. In this study, field measurements were carried out during spring and neap tide...

Saltwater intrusion in estuaries has become a serious environmental problem, such as in the Pearl River estuary (PRE). In this study, we used a fully validated three-dimensional hydrodynamic model EFDC to numerically investigate the saltwater intrusion in the PRE during the dry season of 2007-2008. Based on the the measured salinity, an abnormally...

The dynamics of estuarine sediments plays a key role in the morphological evolution, water quality, and ecosystem health of estuaries. Estuarine turbidity maxima (ETMs) are ubiquitous in estuaries worldwide and have drawn enormous attention from researchers. Here, we use a coupled ocean–atmosphere–wave–sediment transport modeling system to examine...

The mouth bar is a common morphological unit in the river delta system. Its formation and evolution impose an impact on the material exchange between the estuary and ocean. Here we used an advanced wave-current coupled modeling system in an idealized estuary, with a prototype of the Modaomen estuary, China, to study the effects of the mouth bar on...

Salt intrusion in surface waters endangers freshwater availability, influences water quality, and affects estuarine ecosystem services with high economic and social values. Salt transport and the resulting salinity distributions result from the non‐linear interactions between salt and water dynamics. Estuaries are often considered under (quasi)‐ste...

Salt intrusion is a serious environmental problem and is affected by many external forcings, and Modaomen Estuary in China's Pearl River Delta is no exception. Based on the cross-wavelet and wavelet coherence analysis, this study investigated the responses of salt intrusion to different forcings, including tidal range, river discharge, alongshore a...

The Huangmaohai estuary (HE) is a funnel-shaped microtidal estuary in the west of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in southern China. Since China reformed and opened up in 1978, extensive human activities have occurred and greatly changed the estuary's topography and modified its hydrodynamics. In this study, we examined the morphological evolution by a...

In this study, we numerically investigate the effect of the Earth's rotation on the salt dynamics in an idealized convergent partially mixed estuary. The effect of the Coriolis force on salt transport is shown to vary in different parts of the estuary. Near the estuary mouth and in the upper estuary, compared with nonrotating environments, the Cori...

The Huangmaohai Estuary (HE) is a funnel-shaped microtidal estuary in the west of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in southern China. Since China's reform and opening up in 1978, extensive human activities have occurred and greatly changed the estuary's topography, and modified its hydrodynamics. In this study, we examined the morphological evolution by...

The division of freshwater into separate channels at tidal junctions plays an important role in determining the hydrodynamics and material transport in multichannel estuaries. To obtain a better understanding of the net material transport, it is essential to precisely measure the residual flow near the tidal junction. In this study, the phase-avera...

We examined the response of freshwater transport in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) to typhoons in 2017 to investigate the effects of wave-induced mixing under extreme conditions using a 1D-3D coupled river-ocean model with a wave-induced mixing module. The results show that wave-induced mixing trapped more freshwater in coastal regions by narrowing...

Stochasticity in sediment erosion signifies the randomness that under the same hydraulic condition, some sediment is erodible while the other is not. It is crucial in the erosion processes of the estuarine seabed, but its mechanism is not yet clear. In this study, three methods (in-situ data analysis, Gust erosion microcosm system (GEMS) experiment...

Sediment dynamics have great effects on the morphology of estuaries and deltas. As riverine sediment input has decreased in many estuaries in recent years, the removal and dispersion of sediments by currents and waves inside estuaries has assumed a more dominant role; however, the overall effects of waves are less well understood. In this study, we...

The South China Sea (SCS) is a region vulnerable to tropical cyclones (TCs). An array of moored current meters and meteorological buoys was deployed within major pathways of TCs across the slope of the northern shelf of the SCS from September 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Three TCs, Khanun, SonTinh, and Mangkhut, traversed by the storm‐monito...

Fundamentally, river plume dynamics are controlled by the buoyancy due to river effluent and mixing induced by local forcing such as winds and tides. Rarely the influence of far-field internal waves on the river plume dynamics is documented. Our 5-day fix-point measurements and underway acoustic profiling identified hydrodynamic processes on the di...

Sediment retention time in estuaries plays a significant role in the morphological evolution and estuarine ecosystem. In this study, we used a well calibrated numerical model of the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) and examined its sediment budget, transport processes, and transport timescales as regards to sediment discharge from four outlets. The sedime...

The Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere–Wave–Sediment Transport (COAWST) modeling system was used to explore lateral circulation and associated sediment transport in a convergent estuary with existence of channel and shoals. The lateral momentum balance was found to be largely geostrophic with a barotropic pressure gradient balanced by a baroclinic pressure g...

Understanding the transport time scales for sediment in an estuary is important to study the retention of pollutants, such as heavy metals, that adsorb to sediment. In this study, a three-dimensional hydrodynamic and sediment transport model was developed to investigate the transport time scales of sediment in the Modaomen Waterway (MW), China. The...

River plumes are important pathways for the transportation of terrigenous materials to coastal oceans. This study uses the Regional Ocean Modeling System to investigate the dynamics of a small river plume from a lateral river tributary discharging into an estuary. In particular, the plume is surface advected under buoyancy force alone, and the Eart...

Plain Language Summary Winds have significant impacts on estuarine density stratification and sediment dynamics, which may affect water quality, siltation of navigation channels, and the overall health of estuarine ecosystems. Despite this great influence, the mechanisms controlling stratification and sediment transport by axial winds in a converge...

The response of a coastal region to sea-level rise depends on the local physical features, which should therefore be evaluated locally to provide an accurate vulnerability assessment. In this study, we conducted comprehensive analyses of the potential impacts of sea-level rise on the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), China with the aid of a fully calibrat...

Satellite images show that the Pearl River plume is entrained into the upwelling front in the northeastern South China Sea. To understand the processes and extend to other coastal zones, an idealized numerical model is used to investigate the upwelling dynamics in response to the arrival of the river plume. Upon forcing by an upwelling-favorable wi...

Riverine sediment is important for the development of river deltas and for carrying both nutrients and contaminants into estuaries and coasts. Previous studies of sediment transport have focused on single-sourced estuaries and paid less attention to multi-sourced estuaries (estuaries with multiple river discharge sources). In this study, we used th...

Due to the recent rapid increase in human activity and economic development, many coastal areas have recently experienced a high degree of land-based pollution. Evaluating the total maximum allocated load (TMAL) of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) nutrients and the remaining capacity is of importance for improving water quality. A considerable am...

The South China Sea (SCS), influenced by the tropical East Asian Monsoon (EAM), experiences winter monsoon and summer monsoon shifts in near-surface wind, air temperature, sea-surface temperature, salinity, primary productivity, and other oceanographic conditions. To understand how monsoon seasons influence palynological dynamics and which palynolo...

Coastal embayments located downwind of large rivers under an upwelling-favorable wind are prone to develop low-oxygen or hypoxic conditions in their bottom water. One such embayment is Mirs Bay, off the Guangdong coast, which is affected by upwelling and the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) plume during summer. The relative importance of physical and bioc...

Waves, by enhancing surface wind stress and bottom stress, increasing water mixing, and creating water currents, play an important role in modifying the dispersal of river plumes. In this study, we used the COAWST modeling system to study the effects of waves on the dispersal of the Pearl River plume during winter. The waves help retain freshwater...

Wave–current interaction (WCI) is important in modulating hydrodynamics and water mixing in estuaries, and thereby the transport of water-borne materials. However, the effects of WCI on salt transport and salt intrusion in estuaries during storm events have been rarely examined. In the present study, we use a coupled atmosphere–ocean–wave–sediment...

Salt intrusion in the Pearl River estuary (PRE) is a dynamic process that is influenced by a range of factors and to date, few studies have examined the effects of winds and waves on salt intrusion in the PRE. We investigate these effects using the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) modeling system applied to the PRE. After c...

Salt intrusion in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) is a dynamic process that is influenced by a range of factors and to date, few studies have examined the effects of winds and waves on salt intrusion in the PRE. We investigate these effects using the Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) modeling system applied to the PRE. After c...

In situ observations, satellite images, and numerical modeling results have shown that the Pearl River plume axis extends alongshore and passes through two separate upwelling regions—one off the Guangdong and Fujian coasts (the Yuedong upwelling) and the other in the Taiwan Bank during the initial and medium stages of the Yuedong upwelling, while i...

Satellite images of turbidity were used to study the climatological, monthly, and typical snapshot distributions of the Pearl River plume over the shelf in summer from 2003 to 2016. These images show that the plume spreads offshore over the eastern shelf and is trapped near the coast over the western shelf. Eastward extension of the plume retreats...

A triply-nested two-dimensional (2D) ocean circulation model along with observed sea level records are used to study tide-surge interaction along the east coast of the Leizhou Peninsula (LP) which is characterized by extensive mudflats, large tidal ranges and a complex coastline. The dependency of surge maxima on the water level and the phase of ti...

Water circulation and sediment transport in the Beibu Gulf are important for its environmental protection and resource exploitation. By employing the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), we studied the seasonal variation of circulation, sediment transport and long-term morphological evolution in the Beibu Gulf. The simulation results show that th...

Wanquan River is a small river located in Hainan, a tropical island in China. As the third largest river in Hainan, the river plume plays an important role in the regional terrigenous mass transport, coastal circulation, and the coral reef’s ecosystem. Studies have shown that wind forcings significantly influence river plume dynamics. In this study...

Tidal asymmetry and tide-induced residual circulation play important roles in mass transport in estuarine and coastal seas. Previous studies have shown that the flood and ebb duration asymmetry corresponds well to the tidal velocity asymmetry in estuaries and embayments where standing tidal waves dominate. The tide-induced residual circulation is m...

We present a quick assessment method using an idealized one-dimensional linear model to explore the influence of multiple retention basins, whose construction is proposed as a measure to reduce tidal amplitudes in estuaries/tidal channels. To this end, we have developed a process-based network model for the cross-sectionally averaged water motion,...

Being an estuary with the occasional appearance of hypoxia, the Pearl River estuary was selected to investigate its vertical exchange process by a validated 3-D numerical model. The concept of vertical exchange time was used to quantify the vertical exchange process and was calculated by adding a conservative tracer to the hydrodynamic model. The r...

Different types of tidal asymmetry (see review of de Swart and Zimmerman Annu Rev Fluid Mech 41: 203–229, 2009) are examined in this study. We distinguish three types of tidal asymmetry: duration and magnitude differences between flood and ebb tidal flow, duration difference between the rising and falling tides. For waterborne substance transport,...

Based on the salinity and current data from an intensive field survey carried out in the Modaomen Estuary, Pearl River Delta, China, this study reveals that the behaviors of the two major components of salt transport flux (i.e., the advective salt flux caused by mean advective flow and the tidal salt flux caused by tidal diffusive processes) are qu...

Huangmaohai Estuary is a micro-tidal funnel-shaped estuary, located along the southwestern side of the Pearl River Delta complex. Variations of sediment transport patterns under different conditions of river discharge and tidal mixing are investigated by using field measurements and data analysis during both dry and wet seasons, respectively. The i...

In recent years, the increased pressure of saltwater intrusion in the Modaomen Estuary, one of the outlets in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), China, has threatened the freshwater supply for the surrounding regions. The estuary has complex geometry and bathymetry and branches into three waterways, Madaomen Waterway, Hongwan Waterway, and Hezhou Waterwa...

The increase of salt intrusion in recent years in the Modaomen Estuary, one of the estuaries of the Pearl River Delta in China, has threatened the freshwater supply in the surrounding regions, especially the cities of Zhongshan, Zhuhai in Guangdong Province and Macau. A numerical modeling system using nested grids was developed to investigate the s...

Understanding the dynamics of water exchange between Baltimore Harbor and the Chesapeake Bay is essential when evaluating transport and fate of dissolved substances in both of these systems. Conservative artificial tracers are used in this study to investigate transport processes through a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model (CH3D). The model well...

As nutrients and organic matters are transported preferentially in an adsorbed state and tend to bind to the sediments, sediment transport plays an important role on eutrophication processes in the estuaries. The timescale of sediment transport is of significance for studying the retention of pollutants and eutrophication processes in the estuaries...

Northeasters are storms that affect the Chesapeake Bay area more frequently, last for longer periods and impact larger areas than hurricanes. Their impacts on storm surge development and the water exchange between estuary and subestuaries (tributaries) in the Bay vary from one event to another. In this study, three different northeaster events were...

Wind plays an important role in regulating mixing/stratification, estuarine circulation, and transport timescale in estuaries. A three-dimensional model was used to investigate the effect of wind on transport time by using the concept of water age (WA) in the tidal Rappahannock River, a western tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, USA. The model was ca...

Tropical Cyclone Isabel of 2003 generated large storm surge, strong waves, and subsequent river flooding in the York River Estuary, USA during its passage across the Chesapeake Bay region. A 3D model was used to investigate the changes of sediment concentration, sediment flux, and the recovery time of the York River Estuary to its naturally evolved...

The Chesapeake Bay is vulnerable to severe flooding caused by hurricanes and strong Northeasters. A 3D storm surge model of the Chesapeake Bay is developed for studying the impact of model domain size, wind directions and Ekman transport on the storm surge in the Chesapeake Bay. The model encompasses the Chesapeake Bay and the US East Coast shelf t...

The feedback between morphological evolution and tidal hydrodynamics in a wave-dominated tidal inlet, Xiaohai, China is investigated through data analysis and numerical model experiments. Historically, Xiaohai Inlet had two openings, located at the north and south of Neizhi Island (a rocky outcrop), respectively. The evolution of Xiaohai Inlet was...

In this study, a Lagrangian particle tracking model driven by hydrodynamic fields was used to investigate the changes of flushing properties in Xiaohai Lagoon resulting from natural evolution and influences of human activities. Comparisons of residence times between 1936 and 2001 indicate that the flushing efficiency of the lagoon has deteriorated...

Hurricane Isabel made landfall along the North Carolina coast on September 18, 2003 (UTC 17:00) and the storm surge exceeded 2.0m in many areas of the Chesapeake Bay and in the York River estuary. River flooding occurred subsequently, and the peak river discharge reached 317 and 104m3s−1 in the Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers, respectively. The York...

During the passage of Hurricane Floyd, a unique water level fluctuation occurred in the Chesapeake Bay with double high peaks of storm tide in the lower Bay and a moderate set-down in the upper Bay. The response of water level inside the Bay to the hurricane has been studied through analysis of observations and model simulations. The ADvance CIRcul...

SHEN, J.; ZHANG, K.; XIAO, C., and GONG, W., 2006. Improved prediction of storm surge inundation with a high-resolution unstructured grid model. Journal of Coastal Research, 22(6), 1309–1319. West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Accuracy of predicting storm surge inundation depends on the model grid resolution. The spatial resolutions of many...

Hurricane Isabel made landfall near Drum Inlet, North Carolina on September 18, 2003 (UTC 17:00). Although it was classified as only a Category 2 storm (Saffir–Simpson scale), Hurricane Isabel had a significant impact on the Chesapeake Bay with a 1.5–2.0 m storm surge (above mean sea level), and was dubbed the “100-year storm”. A high-resolution un...

Hurricane Isabel made landfall near Drum Inlet, about 240 km south of the Chesapeake Bay mouth, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina at 1700 UTC (GMT 12:00), September 18, 2003. Hurricane Isabel is considered to be one of the most significant tropical cyclones to affect portions of northeastern North Carolina and east- central Virginia. The ADvance...