Fig. 1

(a) Study area: Delaware Bay and River (DBR) in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic. The blue line represents the shoreline, and the green line represents the Delaware River Basin; (b) A zoomed-in view of the bay and river. The LandScan USA (2021) population density data (1-km resolution) and the distribution of the total county population are added to the map; (c) Map showing the channel thalweg transect and distance from the entrance of the bay, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tide gauge locations used for model validation.