Detecting the transport barriers in the Pearl River estuary, Southern China with the aid of Lagrangian coherent structures

Knowledge of horizontal transport pathways is important for the protection of the marine ecosystem in coastal areas. In this paper, we develop a 3D model to simulate hydrodynamics and particle transport in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), Southern China, to study the barriers to transport in the PRE. Specifically, we use the flow velocity produced by the model to locate Lagrangian coherent structures (LCSs) hidden in ocean surface currents. Our findings show that a remarkable LCS begins upstream near the Humen inlet, extends to the Wanshan Islands via Neilingding Island, and can act as a transport barrier in the estuary. This LCS appeared 1-2 h after high tide and was persistent for 6-7 h during every ebb tide. Particles released on the west side of the LCS moved downstream, exited the estuary by Daxi Channel, and seldom spread to the east side, especially the Hong Kong Sea area. An analysis of several scenarios suggested that the formation of this LCS was due to topography restrictions and tidal forces.