Data availability for numerical model input data of the Yellow River Delta to simulate the vegetation distribution processes following deltaic morphological evolution with different flow paths (QN: the current existing pathway, QS: the Qingshuigou Southeast pathway, DK: the Diaokou River pathway)

This dataset contains all model-ready input files required to reproduce the hydro-morphodynamic and vegetation-habitat simulations presented in the manuscript “Natural process-based coastal wetland restoration by relocating river flow paths in a river-dominated delta”. The study area is the Yellow River Delta, China. Simulations were performed with the Delft3D-FLOW (v. 4.04.00) two-dimensional, depth-averaged hydro-morphodynamic model coupled with a Gaussian habitat-suitability model for the pioneer halophyte Suaeda salsa. Three single-path flow relocation scenarios were evaluated: QN – the current Qingshuigou North channel (baseline) QS – the historical Qingshuigou Southeast channel (1976-1996) DK – the historical Diaokou channel (1964-1976) File name Format Description Size (KB) Bathymetry.dep DEP Grid-cell bathymetry referenced to GPS datum (EPSG:32650) 16 984 Grid.grd GRD Curvilinear computational grid (n = 706 446 cells, 50–500 m resolution) 59 573 Grid enclosure.enc ENC Land boundary and coastline polygons 17 dep.xyz XYZ Raw point-measurement bathymetry used for interpolation 225 Open boundaries.bnd BND Location and type of open-sea boundaries 1 Tidal boundary conditions.bca BCA Harmonic tidal constituents (K1, O1, M2, S2) at nine Bohai Sea stations 1 Constituents boundary conditions.bcc BCC Sediment concentration boundaries (mud) for each open boundary 2 Sediment characteristics.sed SED Uniform cohesive-silt parameters (D50 = 0.03 mm, ρ = 2 650 kg m⁻³, τc,ero = 1 N m⁻², τc,dep = 1 000 N m⁻²) 2 QN Discharge locations.src SRC Point-source locations for QN scenario river inflow 3 QN Discharges rates.dis DIS Time-series river discharge and sediment load (m³ s⁻¹, kg m⁻³) for QN 191 QS Discharge locations.src SRC Point-source locations for QS scenario river inflow 2 QS Discharges rates.dis DIS Time-series river discharge and sediment load for QS 191 DK Discharge locations.src SRC Point-source locations for DK scenario river inflow 2 DK Discharges rates.dis DIS Time-series river discharge and sediment load for DK 191 mor.mor MOR Morphological characters 3 Observation point.obs OBS Coordinates of 15 validation stations for water level, velocity, SSC 1 obs.xyz XYZ In-situ observation coordinates used for validation 1 Model settings Simulation period: 10 years after flow-path initiation. Time step: 0.02 min (hydrodynamics); morphological scale-up factor = 10. Upstream boundary: daily-averaged discharge and SSC from Lijin station (post-WSRS: 667.91 m³ s⁻¹, 8.97 kg m⁻³). Downstream boundary: tidal harmonics + sediment concentration = 0 kg m⁻³. Initial conditions: cold start with constant flow, then hot-start morphological run. Vegetation sub-model: Gaussian habitat-suitability curve for Suaeda salsa based on spring-tide average water depth (optimum −0.67 to −0.17 m, suitability −0.92 to 0.08 m, derived from 69 field plots). AccessAll files are provided under CC-BY 4.0. Data are archived at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15902911) and can be downloaded as a single ZIP package (Dataset ID: YRD-FLOW-VEG-2025).