One of eight gates of the Pearl River Estuary,the Yamen Inlet is a bedrock channel mouth connecting the Huangmao Sea and Yamen Channel.The wider water surfaces of the upper and lower reaches of the entrance produce a unique bidirectional asymmetrical jet system.Using observed hydrology and historical charts,the ECOMSED model was applied in morphodynamic analysis of the dynamic structures and dynamic equilibrium of the Yamen jet system and its effect on sedimentation.It was found that (1) the nonlinear interaction of Yamen dynamic structures could not be ignored,as while the Coriolis force and friction force were generally of the same order of magnitude,the effect of friction force was greater;(2) the bidirectional asymmetrical jet system was flood preferential flow to the north of the channel mouth and ebb preferential flow to the south;and (3) the bidirectional asymmetrical jet system was the dominant factor in the long term stability of the Yamen deep trough.
WEI Xing1,2* & WU XiaoXing3 1Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Environmental Dynamics,South China Sea Institute of Oceanology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Guangzhou 510301,China
