The most serious salt tide will hit the Pearl River estuary in south China today because of astronomical factors.

Information from the Guangdong Provincial Astronomers Society said the salt tide would occur when the moon moves to the nearest position to the Earth around 4 AM today, and reach a peak when the sun, the moon and the Earth are in one straight line about 8am.

The grip of the salt tide on the Pearl River estuary will start to wane when the sun, the moon and the earth move away from the above-mentioned position, it said.

This round of salt tide in the Pearl River estuary began in mid-February.

The society said that chlorine content monitored at Dayongkou Watergate near Modaomen Waterway in the estuary stayed above 5,130 grams per liter from February 17-25, while the salinity observed at Xiaoying Watergate near Hengmen Waterway, also in the estuary, reached 5,500 grams per liter, a record high.

The Pearl River estuary has been a victim of repeated rounds of salt tide as a result of less rainfall.

(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2006)