Estimation of tidal excursion length along the shatt al-arab estuary, southern Iraq

Abstract

The tidal excursion length along the Shatt Al-Arab estuary was estimated based on the mathematical relation proposed by Parsa and Shahidi (2010). The field measurements of water level, bathymetry, and discharges were conducted to fulfill the study objective. The results revealed that the tidal excursion length is site-specific and depends on the characteristics of the location which include tidal phases, bathymetry, and geometry of the river. However, the results indicated that there are pronounced differences in tidal excursion lengths between the spring and neap tide phases in all studied stations. The spring tide coincided with the maximum tidal excursion lengths in Shatt Al-Arab estuary with 16.537, 16.187, 11.122, and 9.139 km in the estuary mouth, Faw, Siba, and Abo Flous stations, respectively. While the neap tidal excursion lengths were 12.298, 9.254, and 7.269 km in Faw, Siba, and Abo Flous stations, respectively.