A high-resolution study of tides in the Delaware Bay: Past conditions and future scenarios

Tides in the Delaware Bay (USA) have been modeled from 7000 years before present (7 ka) to the present day and for selected future sea-level rise scenarios (100 years, 300 years). Historic bathymetries were constructed through use of glacial isostatic adjustment models and a very high spatial resolution (< 100 m) was used at the shoreline. Future bathymetries were obtained by extrapolating these glacial isostatic adjustment models and applying an additional eustatic sea-level rise. It was found that tides in the lower bay have remained fairly constant through time but that tides in the upper bay have increased steadily from about 4 ka to the present day; a nearly 100% increase in total. The future runs demonstrated spatially complex behavior with tidal-range changes of up to 10%.