The observed currents in summer in the Bohai Sea

A harmonic method was used to analyze the tidal currents observed in summer at 11 stations made from 1996 to 2001 in the Bohai Sea, China. Data was compared among different instruments and intervals. Elliptic elements were calculated based on harmonic constants, of which vertical distributions of the maximum speed and rotation direction were discussed for understanding the characteristics of diurnal and semi-diurnal tidal current components. The results indicate that the maximum speed of M2 tidal current component is much larger than that of K1; the rotation direction of M2 tidal current constituent is clockwise in the central part of the Bohai Sea and in the Laizhou Bay, but anticlockwise in the Liaodong Bay and Bohai Bay. For K1 tidal current constituent, it is clockwise in the central Bohai Sea but anti-clockwise in the Laizhou Bay and Liaodong Bay. The tidal currents in most stations in the Bohai Sea were regular semidiurnal except for those in the central Bohai Sea, being irregular semidiurnal.     

Coherent and incoherent internal tides in the southern South China Sea

Coherent and incoherent internal tides(CITs and ICITs) in the southern South China Sea were investigated from two sets of _18-month mooring current records. The CITs were mainly composed of diurnal Q _1, O _1, P _1 and K _1 and semidiurnal M_2. The observed diurnal internal tides(ITs) were more coherent than the semidiurnal constituents. Coherent diurnal variance accounted for approximately 58% of the diurnal motion, whereas semidiurnal tides contained a much smaller fraction(35%) of coherent motion. The ICITs mainly consisted of motion at non-tidal harmonic frequencies around the tidal frequency, and showed clear intermittency. The modal decomposition of CITs and ICITs showed that CITs were dominated by mode-1, whereas mode-1 and higher modes in ICITs signals showed comparable amplitudes. CITs and ICITs accounted for approximately 64% and 36% of the total kinetic energy of internal tides, respectively.     

Vertical structure of the tidal currents on the continental shelf of the East China Sea

The available data on tidal currents spanning periods greater than six months for the continental shelf of the East China Sea (26°30.052′N, 122°35.998′E) were analyzed using several methods. Tidal Current Harmonic Analysis results demonstrated that semi-diurnal tides dominated the current movement. The tidal currents of the principal diurnal and semidiurnal rotated clockwise with depth, with the deflection of the major semi-axes to the right in the upper layer and to the left in the lower layer. The vertical structures of two principal semi-diurnal constituents-M2 and S2-were similar, which indicates that the tidal currents are mainly barotropic in this area. The main features of the variation of the four principal tidal constituents with depth demonstrate that the currents in this region are influenced by the upper and lower boundary layers. Therefore, the tidal constituents of the shallow water are similar. Different vertical modes were calculated based on the Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis of the Eastern and Northern components of the tidal currents, with a variance contribution for the zero-order model of at least 90%. The variance contribution of the baroclinic model is minimal, which further reveals a strong barotropic character for the tidal currents of this region.     

Current observations in the southern Yellow Sea in summer

Current data from three moored Acoustic Doppler Profilers (ADPs) deployed in the southern Yellow Sea at sites A (1-24.17°E, 34.82°N), B (122.82°E, 35.65°N) in summer 2001 and site C (120.85°E, 34.99°N) in summer 2003 were analyzed in this paper. Features of the tidal and residual currents were studied with rotary spectral and cross-spectral methods. Main achievements were as follows: 1) Tides dominated the currents. At sites A and B, the semidiurnal tidal current was basically homogeneous in the whole depth, taking a clockwise rotation at site A, and near-rectilinear counterclockwise rotation at site B; while the diurnal tidal current was strong and clockwise near the surface, but decreased and turned counterclockwise with depth; at site C, semidiurnal tidal current dominated and diurnal current took the second, both of which were counterclockwise and vertically homogeneous. Inertial motion contributed to the clockwise component of diurnal fluctuations; 2) The 3-5d fluctuation of residual current w     

Seasonal Variability of Internal Tides Northeast of Taiwan

The spatial-temporal characteristics of the barotropic tides and internal tides(ITs) northeast of Taiwan Island are examined, based on a 1-year mooring current observations from May 23, 2017 to May 19, 2018. The results of harmonic tidal analysis show that the barotropic tides are dominated by semidiurnal tides, which is mainly controlled by M_2 tidal components. Moreover, the vertical structures of diurnal and semidiurnal ITs show that the semidiurnal IT shows notable seasonal variation, whereas seasonal variations of the diurnal IT energy is not significant. The semidiurnal IT energy in winter half year is twice that in summer half year. The seasonal variation of semidiurnal IT is mainly modulated by the direction change of the current rather than by the topographic features and stratification. In summer(winter) half year cyclonic(anti-cyclonic) eddies meanly control at this point, so the flow direction is mainly in the southwest(northeast) direction, causing the background flow to flow along(perpendicular to) the isobath. When crossing the isobath, the ITs are generated by the interaction of the barotropic tide and the topography, resulting in the increase of the tidal energy in the winter half year.     

Tidal current and tidal energy changes imposed by a dynamic tidal power system in the Taiwan Strait,China

The Taiwan Strait has recently been proposed as a promising site for dynamic tidal power systems because of its shallow depth and strong tides. Dynamic tidal power is a new concept for extracting tidal potential energy in which a coast-perpendicular dike is used to create water head and generate electricity via turbines inserted in the dike. Before starting such a project, the potential power output and hydrodynamic impacts of the dike must be assessed. In this study, a two-dimensional numerical model based on the Delft3D-FLOW module is established to simulate tides in China. A dike module is developed to account for turbine processes and estimate power output by integrating a special algorithm into the model. The domain decomposition technique is used to divide the computational zone into two subdomains with grid refinement near the dike. The hydrodynamic processes predicted by the model, both with and without the proposed construction, are examined in detail, including tidal currents and tidal energy flux. The predicted time-averaged power yields with various opening ratios are presented. The results show that time-averaged power yield peaks at an 8% opening ratio. For semidiurnal tides, the flow velocity increases in front of the head of the dike and decreases on either side. For diurnal tides, these changes are complicated by the oblique incidence of tidal currents with respect to the dike as well as by bathymetric features. The dike itself blocks the propagation of tidal energy flux.     

Seasonal variation and modal content of internal tides in the northern South China Sea

A nine-month mooring record was used to investigate seasonal variation and modal content of internal tides(ITs) on the continental slope in the northern South China Sea(SCS). Diurnal tides at this site show clear seasonal change with higher energy in winter than in spring and autumn, whereas semidiurnal tides show the opposite seasonal pattern. The consistency of ITs with barotropic tides within the Luzon Strait, which is the generation region of the ITs, implies that the seasonal variation of ITs depends on their astronomical forcing, even after extended propagation across the SCS basin. Diurnal tides also differ from semidiurnal tides in relation to modal content; they display signals of high modes while semidiurnal tides are dominated by low modes. Reflection of the diurnal tides on the continental slope serves as a reasonable explanation for their high modes. Both diurnal and semidiurnal tides are composed of a larger proportion of coherent components that have a regular 14-day spring-neap cycle. The coherent components are dominated by low modes and they show obvious seasonal variation, while the incoherent components are composed mainly of higher modes and they display intermittent characteristics.     

Tidal current observation in the southern Yellow Sea in the summers of 2001 and 2003

Direct current observations in the Yellow Sea interior are very scarce due to intense fishing and trawling activities. Most previous studies on tides in the area were based on coastal measurements or satellite altimeter sea levels and have not been rigorously compared with direct measurements. In this paper, tidal currents are studied with current profiles from three bottom-moored Sontek Acoustic Doppler Profilers （ADPs） deployed in the southern Yellow Sea in summer of 2001 and 2003. The measured current series were dominated by tidal currents. Maximum velocities are between 40-80 cm/s at the mooring stations. M2 current is the most dominant primary tidal constituent, while MS4 and M4 are the most significant shallow water tides with much smaller amplitudes than the primary tides.     

Radial tidal current field in a semi-enclosed rectangular basin: formation and evolution

The radial tidal current field accounts for the formation of the radial sand ridges in the South Yellow Sea. Understanding the formation and evolution of this radial tidal current field is vital to assessing the morphodynamic features in the area. A semi-enclosed rectangular basin with and without a coastal barrier was schematized from the topography of the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. The 2D tidal current field in this basin was simulated using the DELFT3D-FLOW model. The concept of tidal wave refraction, which highlights the effect of the sloped or stepped submarine topography on the propagation of the tidal waves, was introduced to explain the formation of the radial tidal current field. Under the effect of tidal wave refraction, co-phase lines of the counterclockwise rotating tidal wave and incident tidal wave are transformed into clockwise and counterclockwise deflections, respectively, leading to the convergence and divergence of the flow field. Regardless of whether a coastal barrier exists or not, the outer radial tidal current field might emerge over certain topography. The responses of the radial tidal current field in this basin to the environmental variations such as coastline changes and bottom erosions were discussed. Results show that local protrusion near the focal point of the radial tidal current field will have limited effects on the location of the tidal system. However, a remarkable shift of the amphidromic point toward the entrance and central axis of this basin and a movement of the focal point of the radial tidal current field toward the entrance could be caused by the significant seaward coastline advance and submarine slope erosion.     

Observation of Currents in the Southern Yellow Sea in the Summers of 2001 and 2003

Long term current observations in the southern Yellow Sea are very scarce because of the intense fishing and trawling activities. Most of the previous studies on tides and circulation were not rigorously validated with direct current measurements. In this study, tidal and sub-tidal currents were examined using current profiles from three bottom-moored Sontek Acoustic Doppler Profilers （ADPs） deployed in the southern Yellow Sea in the summers of 2001 and 2003. The measured current time series were dominated by tidal currents. The maximum velocities were between 40-80 cm s^-1 at the mooring stations. The M2 current was the dominant primary tidal constituent, while the MS4 and M4 components produced the most significant shallow water tidal currents with much weaker amplitudes. The measured mean sub-tidal velocities were less than 5 cmsl. The mean flows in the lower layer implied that an anti-cyclonic circulation pattern might exist in the deeper central Yellow Sea. However, the previously expected cyclonic circulation pattern in the upper layer was not clearly shown by the observations.     

Observation of Internal Tides in the Qiongzhou Strait by Coastal Acoustic Tomography

In this study, power spectral density and inverse analyses were performed to obtain the frequency characteristics and spatial distribution of temperature in the Qiongzhou Strait using reciprocal sound transmission data obtained in a coastal acoustic tomography experiment conducted in 2013. The results reveal three dominant types of internal tides(diurnal, semidiurnal, and terdiurnal).Spectral analysis of the range-average temperature deviation along the northern and southern transmission paths shows that along the northern path, the energy of the diurnal internal tides was significantly larger than that of the semidiurnal tides. The semidiurnal internal tides, in contrast, were more pronounced along the southern path. A terdiurnal spectrum with an energy level equivalent to that of the semidiurnal internal tide was discernable for both the northern and southern paths. These three types of internal tides can also be recognized in the time variation of the zonal-average temperature deviation. The diurnal internal tides were strengthened along the northern coast, implying their westward propagation and the existence of coastally trapped effects. The other two types of internal tides, which have smaller wavelengths than the diurnal internal tides, were less resolved over the entire tomographic domain due to the insufficient resolution of the inversion. The data quality was verified to be satisfactory by error estimation.     

A numerical model for tidal currents in the Changjiang River estuary

A generalized finite difference scheme is presented for the solution of two-dimensioned tidal current equations (averaged over the depth of water). This method has been used to simulate the tidal currents in the Changjiang River estuary, with computed results being in good agreement with the field observations. The two-dimensional domain consists of triangular elements with acute angles. First- and second-order partial derivatives are defined at nodal points. In addition, the basic tidal current equations contain an extra term to account for horizontal eddy viscosity. The method has the great advantage of allowing a wide flexibility in configuration simulation, thereby exhibiting the capability to arbitrarily subdivide the region of interest as well as to provide a more accurate boundary shape, and what is more, it offers savings in computing costs. This paper was published in Chinese in the Ocean. et Limn. Sinica.16(1):18–27, 1985     

Nonlinear interactions among internal tidal waves in the northeastern South China Sea

We used a set of 75-day long ADCP data from the northeastern South China Sea (SCS) to investigate nonlinear interactions among freely propagating internal tidal waves. The kinetic energy spectra displayed significant peaks at some higher tidal frequencies, such as O₁M₂ (O₁+M₂), and M₄ (M₂+M₂), where O₁ is the lunar diurnal internal tide, M₂ is the lunar semidiurnal internal tide, and M₄ is the first higher harmonic frequency of M₂. These higher tidal harmonic frequency peaks, as well as the fundamental tidal harmonic peaks, show a σ ^−2.3 spectral falloff rate with frequency. In addition, we explored the possible generation mechanism of higher tidal harmonics. Analysis on the rotary and bicoherence spectra suggests that strong forced non-resonant interaction induced by nonlinear advections was the dominant physical mechanism that induced these higher tidal harmonics. Moreover, the energetic, freely propagating semidiurnal (M₂) internal tidal wave played the most crucial role in these interactions. These results indicate that strong nonlinear forced non-resonant interactions among internal tides can be one of the processes responsible for the redistribution of energy in the internal wave spectrum.     

A VERTICAL COORDINATE TRANSFORMATION FOR 3-D NUMERICAL MODELLING OF OCEAN CIRCULATION

A so called sine-sigma vertical coordinate transformation is proposed. A vertical implicit scheme is de-rived by using cubic-spline representation of vertical current profiles. The derived 3-D nurmericalmodel has been applied to simulate the water leved field and the vertical structures of wind-induced cur-rents in an enclosed rectangular region, and the tides in the Bohai Sea. The model is believed to besatisfactory after comparing its results with an analytical soclution and observed data from tidal staions.     

An investigation of the properties of low-frequency internal waves in the northeastern China Seas

A simple and practical method for separating low-frequency internal waves from low-frequency barotropic waves was employed to analyze the observation data. Analysis of some data gathered in the northestern China Seas revealed strong semidiurnal internal tides and near-inertial internal waves at the stations in the East China Sea and near-inertial waves but no semidiurnal internal tides at the station in the centre of the Yellow Sea. The geographic properties of low-frequency internal waves in the region are discussed primarily on the basis of the mechanism of internal tide generation on the continental shelfbreak, and the mechanisms of local generation and global generation. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Observation of the abyssal western boundary current in the Philippine Sea

Mooring observations were conducted from July 16, 2011 to March 30, 2012 east of Mindanao, Philippines(127°2.8′E, 8°0.3′N) to observe the abyssal current at about 5600 m deep and 500 m above the ocean bottom. Several features were revealed: 1) the observed abyssal current was highly variable with standard deviations of 57.3 mm/s and 34.0 mm/s, larger than the mean values of-31.9 and 16.6 mm/s for the zonal and meridional components, respectively; 2) low-frequency current longer than 6 days exhibited strong seasonal variation, flowing southeastward(mean flow direction of 119.0° clockwise from north) before about October 1, 2011 and northwestward(mean flow direction of 60.5° counter-clockwise from north) thereafter; 3) the high-frequency flow bands were dominated by tidal currents O 1, K 1, M 2, and S 2, and near-inertial currents, whose frequencies were higher than the local inertial frequency. The two diurnal tidal constituents were much stronger than the two semidiurnal ones. This study provides for the first time an observational insight into the abyssal western boundary current east of Mindanao based on long-term observations at one site. It is meaningful for further research into the deep and abyssal circulation over the whole Philippine Sea and the 3D structure of the western boundary current system in this region. More observational and high-resolution model studies are needed to examine the spatial structure and temporal variation of the abyssal current over a much larger space and longer period, their relation to the upper-layer circulation, and the underlying dynamics.     

Numerical Study on Density Residual Currents of the Bohai Sea in Summer

M2 tide and density residual currents in the Bohai Sea were examined using the Blumberg and Mellor 3D nonlinear numerical coastal circulation model incorporating,Mellor and Yamada level 2.5 turbulent closure model.The tidal results showed good agreement with previous work.The model results indicated that the density residual currents are robust in summer;and that at the transition zone between well-mixed and stratified water,the horizontal velocity is high and the vertical velocity is positive.     

Effects of internal tidal dissipation and self-attraction and loading on semidiurnal tides in the Bohai Sea,Yellow Sea and East China Sea: a numerical study

A parameterized internal tide dissipation term and self-attraction and loading(SAL) tide term are introduced in a barotropic numerical model to investigate the dynamics of semidiurnal tidal constituents M_2 and S_2 in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea and East China Sea(BYECS). The optimal parameters for bottom friction and internal dissipation are obtained through a series of numerical computations. Numerical simulation shows that the tide-generating force contributes 1.2% of M_2 power for the entire BYECS and up to 2.8% for the East China Sea deep basin. SAL tide contributes 4.4% of M_2 power for the BYECS and up to 9.3% for the East China Sea deep basin. Bottom friction plays a major role in dissipating tidal energy in the shelf regions, and the internal tide eff ect is important in the deep water regions. Numerical experiments show that artifi cial removal of tide-generating force in the BYECS can cause a signifi cant dif ference(as much as 30 cm) in model output. Artifi cial removal of SAL tide in the BYECS can cause even greater diff erence, up to 40 cm. This indicates that SAL tide should be taken into account in numerical simulations, especially if the tide-generating force is considered.     

Distribution of vertical turbulent mixing parameter caused by internal tidal waves and solitary waves in the South Yellow Sea

Many observations show that in the Yellow Sea internal tidal waves (ITWs) possess the remarkable characteristics of internal Kelvin wave, and in the South Yellow Sea (SYS) the nonlinear evolution of internal tidal waves is one of the mechanisms producing internal solitary waves (ISWs), which is different from the generation mechanism in the case where the semidiurnal tidal current flows over topographic drops. In this paper, the model of internal Kelvin wave with continuous stratification is given, and an elementary numerical study of nonlinear evolution of ITWs is made for the SYS, using the generalized KdV model (GKdV model for short) for a continuous stratified ocean, in which the different effects of background barotropic ebb and flood currents are considered. Moreover, the parameterization of vertical turbulent mixing caused by ITWs and ISWs in the SYS is studied, using a parameterization scheme which was applied to numerical experiments on the breaking of ISWs by Vlasenko and Hutter in 2002. It is found that the vertical turbulent mixing caused by internal waves is very strong within the upper layer with depth less than about 30m, and the vertical turbulent mixing caused by ISWs is stronger than that by ITWs.     

NUMERICAL SIMULATION AND DYNAMIC STUDY OF THE WINTERTIME CIRCULATION OF THE BOHAI SEA

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