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%.