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Long Term Changes To The Lower Columbia River Estuary (Lcre) Hydrodynamics And Salinity Patterns, Aqeel Al-Bahadily

Dissertations and Theses

Changing the morphological and hydrological conditions of an estuary can affect the estuarine hydrodynamics. The hydrograph of the Lower Columbia River Estuary (LCRE) and its bathymetry have been altered significantly over the past 150 years, such that the spring-freshet has decreased by 40-50% while winter flow has increased by 50%. In addition, the inlet width has been narrowed from 9.7 to 3.2km by the construction of jetties, and the controlling depth of the navigation channel has been deepened from 6 to 13m by continuous dredging. Also, ~70% of the shallow water habitat has been lost due to diking and wetland …