HYBRID APPROACHES FOR PREDICTING SALT WEDGE INTRUSION IN ESTUARINE ENVIRONMENT

In the last decade, numerous studies have pointed out that climate change-induced sea level rise (SLR) and possible altered river discharge will modify saline intrusion in estuarine environments. The modification of the behaviour of the salt wedge’s length poses a threat to various ecosystems and consequent human activities carried out within them, including industrial and agricultural uses, which could be compromised. Tian (2019) concluded that the main factors that control the salt-wedge intrusion in an estuary are the river flow, sea level and estuarine geometry. Therefore, with the aim of reproducing the saline behavior, a new model including the effect of these variables is presented.