A numerical study of island wake generated by an elliptical tidal flow

An idealized numerical study of the influence of a tidal flow around an island has been undertaken with ROMS. The study focusses on coastal island wakes which are mainly controlled by elliptical tidal current flows on shallow shelves. This model is typical of some isolated continental shelf islands. The model is forced by a semi-diurnal barotropic inertia gravity wave imposed on the four open boundaries of a rectangular domain and its propagation results in an elliptical tidal flow within the domain in which the circular island lies. The influence of the surrounding island bathymetry and of the ellipse shape has been studied both in two and three dimensions. In the island vicinity, the residual circulation patterns over a tidal period show alongshore flow divergence along the major axis and convergence along the minor axis. A thin tidal ellipse (i.e. with a large ratio between major and minor axes) leads to strong eddy activity periods in the lee of the island during the flood and ebb phases, with eddy dissipation phases in between. By contrast, an almost round ellipse (axis ratio nearly 1) leads to vorticity filaments which continuously progress around the island without eddy shedding. The presence of a topographic slope in the vicinity of the island strengthens the eddy activity. This study suggests that the tidal current rotation favors the development of the eddy rotating in the same direction and weakens the development of the second eddy. In three dimensions with a surrounding bathymetry, an intense upwelling occurs in a large area in the lee of the island and the vertical velocities are stronger with thinner ellipses. With a flat bottom the vertical motions are almost fully generated by convergence and divergence of the secondary flow. With a varying bottom topography, the vertical motions come from a combination of this mechanism with convergence and divergence of the depth averaged flow.