Modeling interactions between tides, storm surges, and river discharges in the Kapuas River delta

Abstract. The Kapuas River delta is a unique estuary system on the west coast of Borneo Island, Indonesia. Its hydrodynamics is driven by an interplay between storm surges, tides, and rivers discharge. These interactions are likely to be exacerbated by global warming, leading to more frequent compound flooding in the area. The mechanisms driving compound flooding events in the Kapuas River Delta remain, however, poorly known. Here we attempt to fill this gap by assessing the interactions between river discharges, tides, and storm surges and how they can drive a compound inundation over the riverbanks, particularly within Pontianak, the main city along the Kapuas River. We simulated these interactions using the multi-scale hydrodynamic model SLIM. Our model correctly reproduces the Kapuas River’s hydrodynamics and its interactions with tides and storm surge from the Karimata Strait. We considered several extreme scenario test cases to evaluate the impact of tide-storm-discharge interactions on the maximum water level profile from the river mouth to the upstream part of the river. Based on the maximum water level profiles, we could divide the main branch of the Kapuas River’s stream into three zones, i.e., the tidally-dominated region (from the river mouth to about 4 km upstream), the mixed-energy region (from about 4 km to about 30 km upstream) and the river-dominated region (beyond 30 km upstream). Thus, the local water management can define proper mitigation for handling compound flooding hazards along the riverbanks by using this zoning category. The model also successfully reproduced a compound inundation event in Pontianak, which occurred on 29 December 2018. For this event, the wind-generated surge appeared to be the dominant trigger.