Spatial variations of tidal water level and their impact on the exposure patterns of tidal land on the central Jiangsu coast

The exposed area of intertidal zone varies with tidal water level changes. If intercomparisons of satellite images are adopted as a method to determine geomorphological changes of the intertidal zone in response to accretion or erosion processes, then the effect of water level variations must be evaluated. In this study, two Landsat TM images overpassing the central Jiangsu coastal waters on 2 January and 7 March 2002, respectively, were treated by the changing detection analysis using Image Differencing and Post-classification Comparison. The simultaneous tide level data from four tide gauge stations along the coast were used for displaying the spatial variations of water levels and determining the elevations of waterlines. The results show that the spatial variations of water levels are highly significant in the central Jiangsu coastal waters. The huge differences of tidal land exposure patterns between the two imaging times are related mainly to the spatial variations of tidal water levels, which are controlled by the differences in tidal phases for different imaging times and the spatial variations of water level over the study area at each imaging time. Under complex tidal conditions, e.g., those of the central Jiangsu coastal waters, the tide-surge model should be used to eliminate effectively the effects of water level variations on remote sensing interpretation of geomorphological changes in the intertidal zone.