SIMULATION OF OCEAN CURRENT IN THE NORTHERN WATERS OF BELITUNG BY USING DELFT3D

• Main Author: Aufa Alghifarri, Muhammad
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/85187
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The study of current simulation in the northern waters of Belitung is essential to understand its impact on seawater quality. This is due to the numerous tin mining activities on Belitung Island, which can discharge waste into the sea, thus affecting the quality of seawater. The current simulation in the northern waters of Belitung was conducted throughout the year 2022 and it was carried out using the Delft3D model with bathymetric data input downloaded from BATNAS with a resolution of 6" or approximately 180 meters. Tidal data was obtained from the Tidal Model Driver and applied to the open boundary conditions on the west, east, and north (scenario 1). Additionally, wind data was sourced from the European Center for Medium-Range Forecast (ECMWF) with a spatial resolution of 1/4° and a temporal resolution of 3 hours (scenario 2). The simulation results revealed that during spring tide conditions in the east monsoon season, the scenario incorporating both tidal and wind forcing exhibited the highest increase in velocity, from 0.105 m/s to 0.120 m/s. Conversely, under the same spring tide conditions but during the west monsoon season, a decrease in maximum velocity was observed, from 0.095 m/s to 0.085 m/s. Generally, the patterns of flood and ebb currents during both spring and neap tides remained consistent across both scenarios, flowing eastward during flood tides and westward during ebb tides. The influence of wind was found to be significant on surface current magnitudos during the west and east monsoon seasons due to the relatively high wind magnitudos, ranging from 3.5-5.5 m/s during the west monsoon and 3-5 m/s during the east monsoon. However, during the first and second transitional seasons, the impact of wind on surface current magnitudos was minimal due to the lower wind magnitudos, which ranged from 0.7-1.5 m/s during the first transitional season and 1.2-1.8 m/s during the second.