A Breadth-Averaged Model for Tidal Circulation and Sediment Transport in the Gulf of Khambhat, West Coast of India.

A multilevel breadth-averaged numerical model has been developed and applied it to the Gulf of Khambhat to study the tidal circulation, salinity, and suspended sediment transport. The model is fully nonlinear and uses a semiexplicit finite difference scheme to solve mass, momentum, and advection diffusion equations in a vertical plane. A turbulent kinetic-energy scheme is used to parameterize the vertical transfer of momentum, salinity, and suspended sediments. The model is forced by prescribing the tidal elevations along the open boundary of the analysis region. The tide in the gulf is mainly represented in the model by the semidiurnal M2 constituent. A freshwater discharge from the landward end is also considered for this study. The erosion and deposition are computed by empirically developed source and sink terms in the suspended sediment equation. Numerical experiments were carried out to simulate the tidal circulation, salinity intrusion, and suspended sediment transport in the gulf region. The computed M2 tide and salinity at two different sets of coastal stations were validated with the available observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]