Simulation of Barotropic and Baroclinic Tides off Northern British Columbia

Abstract The tidal response of northern British Columbia coastal waters is studied through simulations with a three-dimensional, prognostic, primitive equation model. The model is forced at the boundaries with the leading semidiurnal and diurnal constituents and experiments with stratified and homogeneous fluid are compared. The barotropic response shows good agreement with previously published studies of tides in the region. A comparison with tide gauge measurements indicates that average relative rms differences between observations and the model surface elevation field are less than 5% for the largest constituents. An internal tide is generated in cases where the model is initialized with a vertical stratification. Diagnostic calculations of the baroclinic energy flux are used to identify regions of generation and propagation of internal tidal energy. With a representative summer stratification, the integrated offshore flux is about 0.5 gigawatts, higher than previously estimated from theoretical model...

[1]  Ping Chen,et al.  A model simulation of circulation in the northeast Atlantic shelves and seas , 1992 .

[2]  H. Freeland,et al.  Currents along the pacific coast of Canada , 1984 .

[3]  W. Budgell,et al.  Wind‐driven depth‐averaged circulation in Queen Charlotte Sound and Hecate Strait , 1991 .

[4]  Richard D. Ray,et al.  Energetics of global ocean tides from Geosat altimetry , 1991 .

[5]  M. Foreman,et al.  Three-dimensional model simulations for the north coast of British Columbia , 1996 .

[6]  E. W. Schwiderski.  Global Ocean Tides. Part II. The Semidiurnal Principal Lunar Tide (M2), Atlas of Tidal Charts and Maps. , 1981 .

[7]  M. Matsuyama.  Numerical experiments of internal tides in Suruga Bay , 1985 .

[8]  George L. Mellor,et al.  The Pressure Gradient Conundrum of Sigma Coordinate Ocean Models , 1994 .

[9]  Dong-Ping Wang.  Model of mean and tidal flows in the Strait of Gibraltar , 1989 .

[10]  L. Mysak,et al.  Waves in the ocean , 1978 .

[11]  R. Thomson,et al.  Baroclinic oscillations of tidal frequency at ocean weather station P , 1982 .

[12]  P. Baines.  On internal tide generation models , 1982 .

[13]  T. Sherwin,et al.  Numerical investigations of linear internal tide generation in the Rockall Trough , 1990 .

[14]  R. F. Henry,et al.  A finite element model for tides and resonance along the north coast of British Columbia , 1993 .

[15]  A. M. Davies,et al.  Quantitative skill assessment for coastal ocean models , 1995 .

[16]  E. Morozov.  Semidiurnal internal wave global field , 1995 .

[17]  J. Huthnance.  Internal tides and waves near the continental shelf edge , 1989 .

[18]  G. Mellor,et al.  Development of a turbulence closure model for geophysical fluid problems , 1982 .

[19]  David M. Farmer,et al.  The physical oceanography of fjords , 1983 .

[20]  P. Holloway.  A Numerical Model of Internal Tides with Application to the Australian North West Shelf , 1996 .

[21]  R. Flather,et al.  A tidal model of the northeast pacific , 1987 .

[22]  P. Holloway.  Tides on the Australian north-west shelf , 1983 .

[23]  D. Prandle.  The vertical structure of tidal currents , 1982 .

[24]  P. Craig.  A numerical model study of internal tides on the Australian Northwest shelf , 1988 .

[25]  A. E. Gill.  Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics , 1982 .