The North Passage (NP) is the primary navigation channel of the Changjiang Estuary, supporting the shipping needs of Shanghai and its surrounding regions. To enhance our understanding of hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of the NP, a multi-year field observation campaign was designed and conducted from 2015 to 2018. This campaign improves the temporal and spatial coverage compared to previous observations, enabling more detailed investigations of this important channel system.

This paper reports on the main findings of a large measurement campaign aiming to better understand how an exposed estuary (the Ems Estuary on the Dutch–German border) interacts with a tidal river (the lower Ems River). Eight simultaneously deployed ships measuring a tidal cycle and 10 moorings collecting data throughout a spring–neap tidal cycle have produced a dataset providing valuable insight into processes determining exchange of water and sediment between the two systems.

Overtide is a shallow water tidal component and its interaction with astronomical tides induces tidal wave deformation, which is an important process that controls sediment transport. We use a numerical tidal model to examine overtide changes in estuaries under varying river discharges and find spatially nonlinear changes and the threshold of an intermediate river that benefits maximal overtide generation. The findings inform management of sediment transport and flooding risk in estuaries.

To protect the Dutch coastal zone, sand is nourished and disposed at strategic locations. Simple questions like where, how, how much and when to nourish the sand are not straightforward to answer. This is especially the case around the Wadden Sea islands where sediment transport pathways are complicated. Therefore, a large-scale field campaign has been carried out on the seaward side of Ameland Inlet. Sediment transport, hydrodynamics, morphology and fauna in the bed were measured.