Observed and modelled tidal currents in the New Zealand region

Tidal currents derived from current meter measurements are compared with the output from a barotropic tidal model of the New Zealand region. For the semi‐diurnal constituents there was very good agreement for the M₂ tide and good agreement for the S₂ tide. For the diurnal constituents (K_l, O_l) it was found that as the amplitude of the constituents decreased so did both the model/observation agreement and the accuracy of the observed tidal ellipse parameters. Consequently it was not possible to decide whether differences arose through shortcomings in the model or in the data. However, the overall performance of the model as a prognostic tool for ocean tidal current simulation appears to be good.     

南麂岛附近海域潮汐和潮流的特征

以2008年冬季在浙江近海南麂岛附近投放的4个底锚系观测的水位和流速资料为依据,分析了潮汐和潮流特征。水位谱分析结果显示半日分潮最显著,全日分潮其次;近岸的浅水分潮比离岸大。水位调和分析结果表明:潮汐类型均为正规半日潮,近岸处的平均潮差大于3m,最大可能潮差大于6m,潮汐呈现出显著的低潮日不等和回归潮特征。流速谱分析结果显示半日分潮流最强,全日分潮流其次,且比半日分潮流小得多;近岸浅水分潮流比远离岸显著。流速调和分析结果表明:潮流类型均为正规半日潮流,靠近岸的两个站浅水分潮流较显著;最显著的半日分潮流是M2分潮流,其最大流速介于0.32～0.48m/s之间,全日分潮流均很弱,最大流速小于0.06m/s。M2分潮流均为逆时针旋转,椭圆率越靠近海底越大;最大分潮流流速分布为中上层最大、表层略小、底层最小;最大分潮流流速方向的垂向变化很小,底层比表层略为偏左;最大分潮流流速到达时间随深度的加深而提前,底层比中上层约提前30min。潮流椭圆的垂向分布显示这里的半日分潮流以正压潮流为主;日分潮流则表现出很强的斜压性。     

Tidal observations on the West Coast,South Island,New Zealand

Harmonic tidal constants, calculated from sea surface elevation observations at Jackson Bay on the West Coast of the South Island, are consistent with available semi‐diurnal and diurnal tidal phase distributions. Current observations taken over a 111 day period at mid‐depth in 1505 m of water on the southern flank of the Challenger Plateau and over a 240 day period in 1430 m of water on the South Island western coast continental slope, are subject to tidal analysis. At both sites there is a component of energy flux directed across the isobaths and only at the northern site for the M2 tide is the phase consistent with a dominant progressive barotropic tide. The successive 30 day harmonic constants at the southern continental slope site exhibit a trend in the M2 tidal ellipse speed and ellipticity suggesting the presence of a regular internal tide. Superposition of ‘internal tidal’ and barotropic tidal flows, as prescribed from progressive‐ and standing‐wave elevations, to fit the observations indicates that the ‘internal tide’ is probably associated with the first baroclinic mode. At the current‐meter depths the speeds of the ‘internal tide’ for the M2 tide are about the same as the barotropic speeds, whereas, the S2 ‘internal tide’ speeds are larger than those of the barotropic tide. The consistency of the trend in ellipse parameters lends support to the theoretical progressive trapped barotropic tidal flows being a good approximation to the actual barotropic tide. Some support for the hypothesis that the S2 tide on the West Coast of New Zealand has a substantial standing wave contribution is given by the northern observations, where the ratio of the S2: M2 internal tidal ellipse current amplitudes are substantially larger than the ratio of the elevations, the internal tide being generated by across‐isobath flows.     

基于SCHISM模式的全球潮波模拟

基于非结构网格半隐式跨尺度海洋模式（semi-implicit cross-scale hydroscience integrated system model,SCHISM）,作者采用非结构三角网格,对全球大洋潮波进行数值模拟。通过调和分析,将196个潮位站的实测数据与模拟结果进行比较验证,两者符合良好,M₂、K₁分潮同潮图的形态也与TPXO8、FES2014b和NAO.99b模型给出的相似。根据模拟结果,给出了M₂、S₂、K₁、O₁4个主要分潮的同潮图。结果表明,太平洋中存在8个M₂分潮无潮点,大西洋中存在4个M₂分潮无潮点,印度洋中存在3个M₂分潮无潮点。总体上来说,M₂分潮在北太平洋和北大西洋东岸附近海域的振幅大于西岸附近海域的振幅,而在南太平洋和南大西洋情况相反。S₂分潮分布特征与M₂分潮类似,但振幅较小。太平洋中存在5个K₁分潮无潮点,大西洋中存在3个K₁分潮无潮点,印度洋中存在2个K₁分潮无潮点。K₁分潮的振幅普遍较小,在大部分海域不超过30 cm,在北太平洋和南极洲附近海域,由大洋向近岸有增加的趋势。太平洋中存在4个O₁分潮无潮点,大西洋和印度洋中各存在2个无潮点。O₁分潮在大部分海域不超过20 cm,在北太平洋和南极洲附近海域,由大洋向近岸有增加的趋势。最后,讨论了本模型与对比模型之间误差存在的原因。     

Numerical study of baroclinic tides in Luzon Strait

The spatial and temporal variations of baroclinic tides in the Luzon Strait (LS) are investigated using a three-dimensional tide model driven by four principal constituents, O₁, K₁, M₂ and S₂, individually or together with seasonal mean summer or winter stratifications as the initial field. Barotropic tides propagate predominantly westward from the Pacific Ocean, impinge on two prominent north-south running submarine ridges in LS, and generate strong baroclinic tides propagating into both the South China Sea (SCS) and the Pacific Ocean. Strong baroclinic tides, ∼19 GW for diurnal tides and ∼11 GW for semidiurnal tides, are excited on both the east ridge (70%) and the west ridge (30%). The barotropic to baroclinic energy conversion rate reaches 30% for diurnal tides and ∼20% for semidiurnal tides. Diurnal (O₁ and K₁) and semidiurnal (M₂) baroclinic tides have a comparable depth-integrated energy flux 10–20 kW m⁻¹ emanating from the LS into the SCS and the Pacific basin. The spring-neap averaged, meridionally integrated baroclinic tidal energy flux is ∼7 GW into the SCS and ∼6 GW into the Pacific Ocean, representing one of the strongest baroclinic tidal energy flux regimes in the World Ocean. About 18 GW of baroclinic tidal energy, ∼50% of that generated in the LS, is lost locally, which is more than five times that estimated in the vicinity of the Hawaiian ridge. The strong westward-propagating semidiurnal baroclinic tidal energy flux is likely the energy source for the large-amplitude nonlinear internal waves found in the SCS. The baroclinic tidal energy generation, energy fluxes, and energy dissipation rates in the spring tide are about five times those in the neap tide; while there is no significant seasonal variation of energetics, but the propagation speed of baroclinic tide is about 10% faster in summer than in winter. Within the LS, the average turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rate is O(10⁻⁷) W kg^{− 1} and the turbulence diffusivity is O(10⁻³) m²s⁻¹, a factor of 100 greater than those in the typical open ocean. This strong turbulence mixing induced by the baroclinic tidal energy dissipation exists in the main path of the Kuroshio and is important in mixing the Pacific Ocean, Kuroshio, and the SCS waters.     

印度尼西亚海域潮波的数值研究

基于ROMS模式构建了模拟区域为(15.52°S-7.13°N,110.39°~134.15°E)水平分辨率为2′的潮波数值模式,分别模拟了印尼海域M2、S2、K1、O1四个主要分潮。模拟结果与29个卫星高度计交叠点上的调和常数进行比较,符合较好。M2分潮的振幅均方根差为3.4cm,迟角均方根差为5.9°;S2分潮的振幅均方根差为1.7cm,迟角均方根差为6.3°;K1分潮振幅均方根差为1.1cm,迟角均方根差为5.8°;O1分潮振幅均方根差为1.2cm,迟角均方根差为4.4°。M2、S2、K1、O1分潮向量均方根差分别为3.8cm、2.4cm、1.9cm和1.3cm,模拟结果的相对偏差在10%左右。根据计算结果分析了印尼海域的潮汐特征及潮能传播规律,结果显示:爪哇海以外的印尼海域主要为不规则半日潮区;全日潮潮能主要由太平洋传入印尼海域,而半日潮潮能则是从印度洋传入印尼海域。     

内潮耗散与自吸-负荷潮对南海潮波影响的数值研究

利用非结构三角形网格的FVCOM海洋数值模式,在其传统二维潮波方程中加入参数化的内潮耗散项和自吸-负荷潮项,计算了南海及其周边海域的M_2、S_2、K_1和O_1分潮的分布。与实测值的比较表明,引入这两项对模拟准确度的提高有明显效果。根据模式结果本文计算分析了研究海域的潮能输入和耗散。能量输入计算表明,能通量是潮能输入的最主要构成部分,通过吕宋海峡断面进入南海的M_2和K_1分潮能通量分别为38和29GW;半日周期的自吸-负荷潮能量输入以负值居多,而全日周期的自吸-负荷潮能量输入以正值居多,因而自吸-负荷潮减弱了南海的半日潮,并加强了南海的全日潮。引潮力的作用也减弱了半日潮而加强了全日潮,但其作用要小于自吸-负荷潮。潮能耗散的分析显示底摩擦耗散在沿岸浅水区域起主导作用,内潮耗散则主要发生在深水区域。内潮耗散的最大值出现在吕宋海峡,且位于南海之外的海峡东部的耗散量大于位于南海之内的海峡西部的耗散量。对M_2和K_1分潮吕宋海峡的内潮耗散总值分别达到16和23GW。     

Numerical study of tidal dynamics in the South China Sea with adjoint method

We adopt a parameterized internal tide dissipation term to the two-dimensional (2-D) shallow water equations, and develop the corresponding adjoint model to investigate tidal dynamics in the South China Sea (SCS). The harmonic constants derived from 63 tidal gauge stations and 24 TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) satellite altimeter crossover points are assimilated into the adjoint model to minimize the deviations of the simulated results and observations by optimizing the bottom friction coefficient and the internal tide dissipation coefficient. Tidal constituents M₂, S₂, K₁ and O₁ are simulated simultaneously. The numerical results (assimilating only tidal gauge data) agree well with T/P data showing that the model results are reliable. The co-tidal charts of M₂, S₂, K₁ and O₁ are obtained, which reflect the characteristics of tides in the SCS. The tidal energy flux is analyzed based on numerical results. The strongest tidal energy flux appears in the Luzon Strait (LS) for both semi-diurnal and diurnal tidal constituents. The analysis of tidal energy dissipation indicates that the bottom friction dissipation occurs mainly in shallow water area, meanwhile the internal tide dissipation is mainly concentrated in the LS and the deep basin of the SCS. The tidal energetics in the LS is examined showing that the tidal energy input closely balances the tidal energy dissipation.     

珠江三角洲径潮相互作用下潮能的传播和衰减

因径流潮汐相互作用,三角洲各水道的能通量包含径流引起的净通量及潮汐引起的潮能通量。本文利用珠江三角洲多断面实测水位及流量的同步测量数据,建立基于径潮耦合的调和分析模型,剥离径流信号,计算出各站的总潮能及M₂、K₁及高频浅水分潮的潮能,对珠江三角洲潮能的沿程传播及衰减进行研究。结果表明,通过虎门进入珠江三角洲的潮波能量约占51.2%,而通过崖门、蕉门、磨刀门传入三角洲的潮能约占37%;同时,因地形摩擦、径流耗能效应,三角洲各水道的总能量损耗为148.33 MW。潮波能量按汇聚型和分散型两大类型沿三角洲不同位置传播并沿程衰减。虎门狮子洋及珠江正干、崖门至潭江石咀两大水道体系,其潮能沿程分散传入不同汊道,断面总潮能的衰减幅度大于单宽潮能通量的衰减,单宽潮动能沿程平均衰减速率大于潮势能,半日分潮的潮能衰减速率大于全日分潮。虎门狮子洋因其形态影响,M₂分潮振幅（或势能）的衰减最小,虎门至泗盛围段增加,平均每千米约增加0.77%。西四口门潮能汇聚于西海水道天河断面,总潮能的衰减速率小于磨刀门水道单宽潮能衰减速率。沿横门、洪奇门、蕉门进入的潮波多次交汇、分散,自横门至小榄、南华,南沙至海尾、荣奇,其单宽潮动能及M₂、K₁分潮动能的衰减速率小于潮势能,高频分潮势能沿程增加。     

Oceanic tidal angular momentum and Earth's rotation variations

Luni-solar tides affect Earth's rotation in a variety of ways. We give an overview of the physics and focus on the excitation of Earth rotational variations by ocean tides under the conservation of angular momentum. Various models for diurnal and semidiurnal tidal height and tidal current fields have been derived, following a legacy of a number of theoretical tide models, from the Topex/Poseidon (T/P) ocean altimetry data. We review the oceanic tidal angular momenta (OTAM) predicted by these T/P models for the eight major tides (Q₁, O₁, P₁, K₁, N₂, M₂, S₂, K₂), and their excitations on both Earth's rotational speed variation (in terms of length-of-day or UT1) and polar motion (prograde diurnal/semidiurnal components and retrograde semidiurnal components). These small, high-frequency effects have been unambiguously observed in recent years by precise Earth rotation measurements via space geodetic techniques. Here we review the comparison of the very-long-baseline-interferometry (VLBI) data with the T/P OTAM predictions. The agreement is good with discrepancies typically within 1 – 2 microseconds for UT1 and 10 – 30 microarcseconds for polar motion. The eight tides collectively explain the majority of subdaily Earth rotation variance during the intensive VLBI campaign Cont94. This establishes the dominant role of OTAM in exciting the diurnal/semidiurnal polar motion and paves the way for detailed studies of short-period non-OTAM excitations, such as atmospheric and oceanic angular momentum variations, earthquakes, the atmospheric thermal tides, Earth librations, and the response of the mantle lateral inhomogeneities to tidal forcing. These studies await further improvements in tide models and Earth rotation measurements.     

2008年黄海绿潮路径的数值模拟

利用FVCOM模式拉格朗日粒子跟踪模块模拟了2008年5月到7月黄海绿潮漂移路径,根据遥感图像选取粒子跟踪的初始位置和初始时刻,模式中加入M2,S2,K1,01四个主要分潮和Quickscat每日风场资料作为驱动,模拟的粒子运动的主要路径和到达青岛近岸的时间与遥感图像对比都比较吻合。该结论进一步验证了前人关于青岛绿潮来...     

Tidal oscillations in the Caspian Sea

Long-term hourly data from 12 tide gauge stations were used to examine the character of tidal oscillations in the Caspian Sea. Diurnal and semidiurnal tidal peaks are well-defined in sea level spectra in the Middle and South Caspian basins. High-resolution spectral analysis revealed that the diurnal sea level oscillations in the Middle Caspian Basin have a gravitational origin, while those in the South Caspian Basin are mainly caused by radiational effects: the amplitude of diurnal radiational harmonic S₁ is much higher than those of gravitational harmonics О₁, P₁, and K₁. In the North Caspian Basin, there are no gravitational tides and only weak radiational tides are observed. A semidiurnal type of tide is predominant in the Middle and South Caspian basins. Harmonic analysis of the tides for individual annual series with subsequent vector averaging over the entire observational period was applied to estimate the mean amplitudes and phases of major tidal constituents. The amplitude of the M₂ harmonic reaches 5.4 cm in the South Caspian Basin (at Aladga). A maximum tidal range of 21 cm was found at the Aladga station in the southeastern part of the Caspian Sea, whereas the tidal range in the western part of the South Caspian Basin varies from 5 to 10 cm.     

Data Assimilation Modeling of the Barotropic Tides in the Korea/Tsushima Strait

During 1999–2000, 13 bottom mounted acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) and 12 wave/tide gauges were deployed along two lines across the Korea/Tsushima Strait, providing long-term measurements of currents and bottom pressure. Tidally analyzed velocity and pressure data from the moorings are used in conjunction with other moored ADCPs, coastal tide gauge measurements, and altimeter measurements in a linear barotropic data assimilation model. The model fits the vertically averaged data to the linear shallow water equations in a least-squares sense by only adjusting the incoming gravity waves along the boundaries. Model predictions are made for the O₁, P₁, K₁, μ₂, N₂, M₂, S₂, and K₂ tides. An extensive analysis of the accuracy of the M₂ surface-height predictions suggests that for broad regions near the mooring lines and in the Jeju Strait the amplitude prediction errors are less than 0.5 cm. Elsewhere, the analysis suggests that errors range from 1 to 4 cm with the exception of small regions where the tides are not well determined by the dataset. The errors in the model predictions are primarily caused by bias error in the model’s physics, numerics, and/or parameterization as opposed to random errors in the observational data. In the model predictions, the highest ranges in sea level height occur for tidal constituents M₂, S₂, K₁, O₁, and N₂, with the highest magnitudes of tidal velocities occurring for M₂, K₁, S₂, and O₁. The tides exhibit a complex structure in which diurnal constituents have higher currents relative to their sea level height ranges than semi-diurnal constituents.     

Characteristics of Tides in the Bay of Bengal

A vertically integrated 2D numerical model was developed for the simulation of major tidal constituents (M₂, S₂, N₂, K₁ and O₁) in the Bay of Bengal. The bathymetry for the model domain was derived from an improved ETOPO5 dataset prepared in our earlier work. The simulated tidal elevations showed good agreement with the hourly tide gauge observations at Paradip, Visakhapatnam, and Chennai. The amplitudes and phases of M₂, S₂, K₁, and O₁ at the coastal stations, obtained from harmonic analysis of simulated tides, were found to agree well with those obtained from Admiralty Tide Tables with the RMS misfit 9.2, 5.6, 2.9 and 3.1 cm, respectively. In the Bay of Bengal, semi-diurnal tides (M₂, S₂, and N₂) attain highest amplitudes (180, 80, 30 cm, respectively) in the Gulf of Martaban while amplitudes of diurnal tides (K₁, O₁) reaches maximum (20, 12 cm, respectively) in the Malacca Strait. The continental shelf in the head bay and along the southern coast of Myanmar is about 200 km wide and the amplitudes of semi-diurnal tides are doubled in these regions while the diurnal tides amplify only marginally, which is consistent with Clarke and Battisti theory. In the north eastern end of the head bay and the Gulf of Martaban, the geometrical configuration of the coastline, in addition to the wide continental shelf, could contribute to the amplification of both semi-diurnal and diurnal constituents. In the Malacca Strait, the amplitudes of both semi-diurnal and diurnal tides are found to increase gradually from the northern end to the 2.5°N and decreases towards southern boundary. The co-tidal and co-range charts of M₂ and S₂ tidal constituents also show the presence of two degenerate amphidromic points in the head bay. A virtual amphidromic point for M₂ is identified in the Malacca Strait.     

Tidal estimation in the pacific with application to SEASAT altimetry

Abstract

The techniques for computing the eigenfunctions of the velocity potential (Proudman functions) set out in Sanchez et al. (1986) in relation to the Atlantic‐Indian Ocean are here applied to the Pacific Ocean, using a 6° × 6° grid of 510 points (455 points for the associated stream functions). Normal modes are computed from the first 150 Proudman functions and have natural periods from 43.9 hours downwards. Tidal syntheses are derived from these modes by direct application of the (frictionless) dynamic equations and by least‐squares fitting of Proudman functions to the dynamically interpolated tide‐gauge data of Schwiderski (1983). The modes contributing most energy to the principal harmonic tidal constituents are different in the two computations; their natural periods are typically in the range of 9–16 hours for semidiurnal, 14–43 hours for diurnal tides. The RMS of fit for Proudman functions is in all cases better than the corresponding value for the same number of spherical harmonics.

Before fitting the Proudman functions to the altimetry from the 3‐day repeat cycle of Seasat, the data are processed by novel methods. The geoid component is eliminated by taking collinear differences at a fixed time‐lag of two repeat cycles. Orbit errors are reduced by extracting the 1 rev^?1 component at every ascending node; this component varies slowly and nonlinearly in time. The spatial fitting process includes M₂ and O₁ frequencies, both of which emerge with significant and realistic tidal mapping, but residual noise in the data limits the number of Proudman functions to about 50–60 before showing signs of “over‐fitting.”; Fitting the same data by spherical harmonics gives marginally lower predicted variance for the same number of parameters.     

大亚湾海域夏、冬季的潮汐特征及余水位与风的相关性初步探讨

大亚湾及其邻近海域冬、夏季各14个临时水位观测点1个月的实测潮位资料显示:各站的水位曲线均呈现明显的"双峰"现象,且湾顶比湾口更为明显.本文采用了调和分析方法,给出M2、S2、K1、O1四个主要分潮及M4、M6、2MS6三个浅水分潮的振幅和迟角同潮图,分析大亚湾的主要潮汐特征,探讨了浅水分潮对双峰结构的贡献,并采用交叉...     

Mode-1 internal tides in the western North Atlantic Ocean

Mode-1 internal tides were observed the western North Atlantic using an ocean acoustic tomography array deployed in 1991–1992 centered on 25°N, 66°W. The pentagonal array, 700-km across, acted as an antenna for mode-1 internal-tides. Coherent internal-tide waves with O(1 m) displacements were observed traveling in several directions. Although the internal tides of the region were relatively quiescent, they were essentially phase locked over the 200–300 day data record lengths. Both semidiurnal and diurnal internal waves were detected, with wavenumbers consistent with those calculated from hydrographic data. The M₂ internal-tide energy flux was estimated to be about 70 W m⁻¹, suggesting that mode-1 waves radiate 0.2 GW of energy, with large uncertainty, from the Caribbean island chain at this frequency. A global tidal model (TPXO 5) suggested that 1–2 GW is lost from the M₂ barotropic tide over this region, but the precise value was uncertain because the complicated topography makes the calculation problematic. In any case, significant conversion of barotropic to baroclinic tidal energy does not occur in the western North Atlantic basin. It is apparent, however, that mode-1 internal tides have very weak decay and retain their coherence over great distances, so that ocean basins may be filled up with such waves. Observed diurnal amplitudes were an order of magnitude larger than expected. The amplitude and phase variations of the K₁ and O₁ constituents observed over the tomography array were consistent with the theoretical solutions for standing internal waves near their turning latitude. The energy densities of the resonant diurnal internal waves were roughly twice those of the barotropic tide at those frequencies.     

Ocean tides around New Zealand

The distribution of amplitude and phase for eight ocean tidal constituents (M₂, S₂, N₂, K₂, K₁, O₁, P₁, Q₁) is presented as tidal maps for the New Zealand area. The distribution was calculated using a barotropic tidal model driven by TOPEX/ Poseidon data on the outer ocean boundaries. The maps exhibit the known features of the tides in this area such as a complete rotation of the semi‐diurnal tides around New Zealand and the reduced spring‐neap variations on the east coast. They also point out several new features for which there are few or no observations, such as diurnal trapped waves and shelf waves. A comparison of the model results with observations shows that sea level errors are within 0.1 m in amplitude and 10° in phase for the largest constituents at all locations, including sites where the data are of low quality and where the geometry is not adequately resolved. For locations where the geometry is adequately represented and the observations are of high quality, sea level errors are within 0.02 m in amplitude and 7° in phase. These results represent the most accurate and highest resolution calculations of tides and currents yet attained for this area.     

Estimation of baroclinic tide energy available for deep ocean mixing based on three-dimensional global numerical simulations

The global distributions of the major semidiurnal (M₂ and S₂) and diurnal (K₁ and O₁) baroclinic tide energy are investigated using a hydrostatic sigma-coordinate numerical model. A series of numerical simulations using various horizontal grid spacings of 1/15–1/5° shows that generation of energetic baroclinic tides is restricted over representative prominent topographic features. For example, nearly half of the diurnal (K₁ and O₁) baroclinic tide energy is excited along the western boundary of the North Pacific from the Aleutian Islands down to the Indonesian Archipelago. It is also found that the rate of energy conversion from the barotropic to baroclinic tides is very sensitive to the horizontal grid spacing as well as the resolution of the model bottom topography; the conversion rate integrated over the global ocean increases exponentially as the model grid spacing is reduced. Extrapolating the calculated results in the limit of zero grid spacing yields the estimate of the global conversion rate to be 1105 GW (821, 145, 102, 53 GW for M₂, S₂, K₁, and O₁ tidal constituents, respectively). The amount of baroclinic tide energy dissipated in the open ocean below a depth of 1000 m, in particular, is estimated to be 500–600 GW, which is comparable to the mixing energy estimated by Webb and Suginohara (Nature 409:37, 2001) as needed to sustain the global overturning circulation.     

粤西沿岸海域潮汐特征

对粤西海域水东、湛江、硇州岛、南渡和海安验潮站各1年水位资料进行了调和分析及统计。结果表明:粤西海域北部湛江、水东、硇洲岛、南渡4站主要分潮为M_2、K_1、S_2和O_1,是不规则半日潮;而南部海安站主要分潮为O_1和K_1分潮,是不规则日潮。粤西沿岸各站浅水分潮和平均水位从北到南有减小趋势。在日潮不等方面,粤西沿岸验潮站都存在明显的日潮高、日潮时不等现象。日潮时不等总体上从北到南有降低的趋势,北部湛江、水东和硇州岛涨潮时间比落潮长1~1.5 h,南部南渡和海安两站涨、落潮时相差不大。另外,调和分析和经验公式不再适用于南渡站,南渡河入海口处堤闸工程是主要原因。这为粤西海域环境资源开发、航运活动等提供环境支持和保障。