LAUSR

The steep slope of the bathymetry and topography that surrounds Palu Bay is a unique morphology of the area that affects the currents. A simulation was carried out in three regions with seven scenarios to understand the effect of wind, tide, and discharge on currents. The results showed that the average current pattern in Palu Bay is more dominantly influenced by tides at the open boundary and in the middle of the bay, steered by wind directions. The velocity decreases when it reaches the end of the bay and eventually reverses back to the mouth of the bay through both sides of the bay. The current in the Palu River estuary with a discharge of 36 m3/s moves out of the river mouth. On the other hand, results with a discharge of 2 m3/s revealed that the tidal current in the middle layer to the lower layer moves in the opposite direction to the current generated by the discharge in the layer above. It means that the tidal current velocity is lower than that generated by the river discharge. The computation revealed a good agreement with observed current velocity at the selected observation points.