Spectral responses of water level in tidal river and groundwater

• Published in: Hydrological processes 1999-04, Vol.13 (6), p.889-911
• Main Authors: Shih, David Ching-Fang, Chiou, Kin-Forie, Lee, Chin-Dee, Wang, I-Sen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronomical instruments; Barometric pressure; Basins; Correlation; Domains; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Fluctuation; Groundwater; Hydrology; Hydrology. Hydrogeology; Phase shift; river; Rivers; Spectra; spectral analysis; Streams; Taiwan; tide; Topography; Variations; Wells
• ISSN: 0885-6087; 1099-1085
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1085(19990430)13:6<889::AID-HYP763>3.0.CO;2-4

The water level of five river stages and seven groundwater wells in the Taipei Basin were analysed by spectral analysis in the frequency domain. The diurnal, semi‐diurnal and quarter‐diurnal tidal components of the Tanshui River appear to relate closely to astronomical tides as K1, M2 and M4, respectively. It is also found that the diurnal component reveals a reversed phase angle in the middle section of the Tanshui River; the phase of the quarter‐diurnal component is also found to be reversed at stations upstream in the Tanshui River and Hsintien Stream. It is believed that these phenomena could be caused by local variation in the river channel topography. The autospectrum and cross‐spectrum between groundwater elevation and nearby river stage were observed to correlate highly with the frequency of the astronomical tides K1, M2 and M4. From the study of the phase shift and time lag of water level fluctuations at river stages and groundwater wells, it was found that the tidal effects of diurnal, semi‐diurnal, and quarter‐diurnal components were significantly different. The relationships between phase and the fluctuated range of atmospheric pressure and water level imply that change in atmospheric pressure does not affect water level fluctuation in the river stage and groundwater well. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.