Scheldt Estuary and its alluvial plains - Belgium

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Basic Information
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Site Name
Scheldt Estuary and its alluvial plains
Short name
Scheldt estuary
Country
Belgium
Site Manager
Gunther Van Ryckegem
Site Description
The study site starts at the mouth of the river (Vlissingen, the Netherlands) and extends to Gent, 160 km from the mouth, where tidal influence is stopped by sluices. The tributaries the Durme and the Rupel, with the Nete , Dijle and Zenne are also under tidal influence and are considered part of the estuary. The natural inundated areas around the river and the valleys up to 5m TAW are also part of the study system.
Relationships to other sites
This site contains:
Last modified
2025-01-07 11:14:56

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1991
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
ILTER✔This site is a verified "ILTER" member.
LTER Europe✔This site is a verified "LTER Europe" member.
LTER Belgium✔ (LTER_EU_BE_06)This site is a verified "LTER Belgium" member.
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
Projects
Natura 2000
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Photos
not defined
not defined
not defined
not defined
Geographic
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 51.115283 Longitude: 4.248877

Size
ca. 140272.00ha
Elevation (average)
4.84msl
Elevation (min)
-13.00msl
Elevation (max)
14.50msl
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Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
GEO-BON Biome
Marine
Biome
Marine
Ecosystem Type
Rivers
Large river deltas
Biogeographical Region
Atlantic Bio-geographical Region
EUNIS habitat
Marine habitats (A)
Marine habitats (A) » Littoral sediment (A2)
Marine habitats (A) » Littoral sediment (A2) » Coastal saltmarshes and saline reedbeds (A2.5)
Marine habitats (A) » Littoral sediment (A2) » Littoral mud (A2.3)
Marine habitats (A) » Littoral sediment (A2) » Littoral sand and muddy sand (A2.2)
Air Temperature: Average Annual
10.50°C
Precipitation Annual
852.40mm
Geology
The Scheldt estuary as we know it now is only formed 700 years ago, when mayor flood connected the Easter and Westerscheldt . The latter would become the only entry of the Scheldt. The river it self dates from a much older period (Pliocene).
Vegetation
tidal marsh (salt-brackish-fresh)
Hydrology
The Scheldt is rain fed river with a macro tidal estuary (maximum tidal amplitude 5.4 m). The tidal influence is stopped by the sluices near Gent, two tributaries remain under tidal influence (Durme and Rupel).
Site Type
Platform
Design of Experimentation
no experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
plot scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
plot within catchment
Permanent Power Supply
No
Equipment
Observation devices » Marine Platform
Data infrastructure » Data services » Data portal
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Relational database
Accessible All Year
No
All parts of Site Accessible
No
Permanent Operation
Yes
Site Visit Interval
14
General Data Policy
Formal acknowledgement of the dataset providers
LTER Site Classification
LTSER
There is EURO-CORDEX climate scenario data available for this site:
Projected Near Surface Specific Humidity ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Precipitation ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Sea Level Pressure ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Surface Downwelling Shortwave RadiationRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Wind SpeedRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85

You can also download the entire climate scenario dataset for this site from the EUDAT B2SHARE data store.