A physical Impulse-based approach to evaluate the exploitative intensity of Bay—A case study of Daya Bay in China

The exploitative intensity evaluation of bays is meaningful for the ecological conservation, future utilization and integrated management of bays in China; especially for the regions where the economic development is depending on the coastal exploitation. Nevertheless, the complexity of morphology and structure of bays make the study a little bit difficult. A physical impulse-based approach to evaluate the exploitative intensity of bay was put forward in this paper. First of all, the differentiation in morphological, spatial location and structure of bays were analyzed, and the bay was separated into geographical elements of axes and areas accordingly; secondly, the exploitation and utilization process was abstracted and assumed using physical principles; Thirdly, physical Impulse-based Model of exploitative intensity evaluation was build according to the Law of Momentum which can convert the process variable to state variable. Daya Bay of Guangdong province in China was taken as a case study, four key time indicating the construction of large coastal engineering near Daya Bay coast were selected, namely year 1986, 1991, 2001 and 2004. The exploitative intensities of each spatial element of Daya Bay during 1986–1991, 1991–2001, and 2001–2004 were calculated and analyzed. The results show that the exploitative intensity of intertidal flat in Daya Bay during the study time spans is highest. The potential applications, current limitations, and future challenges of the approach were discussed.

► A novel physical Impulse-based approach is build according to the Law of Momentum. ► The approach assumed that the change of bays is mainly caused by human beings. ► The process variable of exploitation on bays is converted to state variable. ► The entire and partial component of exploitative intensity on bays can be evaluated. ► Use multi-source data assisted with GIS and RS technology for the evaluation of bays.