Integrating modeling, remote sensing and in-situ data to characterize hydro-sedimentological dynamics and climate impacts in the Río de la Plata estuary

This work synthesizes a long-term effort to characterize the Río de la Plata, a large microtidal estuary where sediment-rich waters from the Paraná and Uruguay rivers mix with shelf waters. Over recent decades, we combined high-resolution 3D numerical modeling, continuous in-situ monitoring, and remote sensing to investigate governing physical processes. Initial research evolved from nested models capturing tide-surge interactions to fully coupled wave-current-sediment simulations incorporating self-weight consolidation. This established that at shorter scales, fronts respond to local storms and meteorological tides propagating along the continental shelf. To expand this characterization to decadal climate variability, we integrated this framework with remote sensing. Processing satellite imagery spanning two decades revealed the complex spatio-temporal dynamics of the turbidity front. As cohesive sediments flocculate, this front serves as a proxy for salinity intrusion, validated by correlating satellite-derived locations with in-situ data and incorporating salinity-dependent settling velocity in models. This multi-scale approach reveals that while intra-annual variability is governed by seasonal winds, frontal positions show clear interannual dependence on river discharge modulated by ENSO and low-frequency climate oscillations. This cumulative integration enables a robust understanding of the estuary's fundamental properties, moving beyond isolated analyses to a comprehensive mechanistic characterization.

Presentation Preference: Standard Oral (12 Minutes)

Primary Presenter: Pablo Santoro, Universidad de la República (psantoro@fing.edu.uy)

Authors:

Fernanda Maciel, Universidad de la República  (fmaciel@fing.edu.uy)

Francisco Pedocchi, Universidad de la República  (kiko@fing.edu.uy)