On the comparison of tidal gravity parameters with tidal models in central Europe

Two accurately calibrated superconducting gravimeters (SGs) provide high quality tidal gravity records in three central European stations: C025 in Vienna and at Conrad observatory (A) and OSG050 in Pecný (CZ). To correct the tidal gravity factors from ocean loading effects we compared the load vectors from different ocean tides models (OTMs) computed with different software: OLFG/OLMP by the Free Ocean Tides Loading Provider (FLP), ICET and NLOADF. Even with the recent OTMs the mass conservation is critical but the methods used to correct the mass imbalance agree within 0.1 nm/s². Although the different software agrees, FLP probably provides more accurate computations as this software has been optimised. For our final computation we used the mean load vector computed by FLP for 8 OTMs (CSR4, NAO99, GOT00, TPX07, FES04, DTU10, EOT11a and HAMTIDE). The corrected tidal factors of the 3 stations agree better than 0.04% in amplitude and 0.02° in phase. Considering the weighted mean of the three stations we get for O1 δ_c = 1.1535 ± 0.0001, for K1 δ_c = 1.1352 ± 0.0003 and for M2 δ_c = 1.1621 ± 0.0003. These values confirm previous ones obtained with 16 European stations. The theoretical body tides model DDW99/NH provides the best agreement for M2 (1.1620) and MATH01/NH for O1 (1.1540) and K1 (1.1350). The largest discrepancy is for O1 (0.05%). The corrected phase α_c does not differ significantly from zero except for K1 and S2. The calibrations of the two SG's are consistent within 0.025% and agree with Strasbourg results within 0.05%.     

渤海、黄海、东海潮流、潮能通量与耗散的数值模拟研究

基于ROMS海洋数值模式,对渤海、黄海、东海的潮汐、潮流进行数值模拟,模拟结果与91个沿岸验潮站的实测结果拟合较好。研究表明,渤、黄、东海内的潮波以半日潮为主,共有4个半日潮、2个全日潮和1个退化的半日潮旋转潮波系统,且都呈逆时针方向旋转;渤海的半日潮流主要呈顺时针方向旋转,全日潮流呈逆时针方向旋转,黄海的潮流以逆时针旋转为主,东海、朝鲜海峡潮流以顺时针旋转为主;半日分潮流共有13个圆流点,K1(O1)分潮流有10(9)个圆流点,但全日潮流的同潮时线分布较为复杂;太平洋传入东海的4个主要分潮潮能通量分别为118.341GW、19.525GW、5.630GW、3.871GW,一半以上的潮能耗散在南黄海,30%—40%的潮能耗散在东海,其次是北黄海,而渤海最小。     

渤海开边界潮汐的伴随法反演

潮汐潮流数值模拟中的一个主要难点在于开边界条件的确定。本文采用伴随法 ,由渤海沿岸 1 9个验潮站的潮汐调和常数来反演渤海海域的开边界条件 ,以实现渤海潮波的数值模拟。计算所得调和常数与实测值之差的绝对平均值 :m1 潮波振幅差为 1 4cm ,迟角差为5 0°;M2 潮波振幅差为 2 4cm ,迟角差为 5 0°。数值模拟结果正确地反映了渤海m1 和M2 潮波的基本特征     

Sea ice evolution and internal wave generation due to a tidal jet in a frozen sea

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of tidal currents on sea ice in Spitsbergen fjords which may cause rapid decrease of the ice thickness due to erosion and melting of the ice. The effect was studied in-situ near the narrow channel connecting the Van Mijen Fjord and Lake Vallunden. The strong jet-like tidal currents in the strait driven by semidiurnal tide continue into the lake preventing ice freezing along a narrow strip during high tide and relatively warm weather. Understanding the formation of open water regions or regions with thin ice is important for the safe transportation on ice. We estimate conditions and representative time over which strong tidal current influences ice thickness along a narrow strip in solid ice. Changes of tidal phase and decrease in air temperature influence freezing of the strip in one-two days. While the tidal flow leaves the strait it overflows a shallow bar and generates internal lee waves propagating downslope and mixing the water. Tidal forcing of internal waves was measured using pressure gauges and by scanning of the ice surface during flood and ebb phases. Internal waves were measured using three types of CTD instruments and an ADCP current meter. The generation of wave packets occurs every tidal cycle when the current flows into the lake, but no generation occurs during the ebb phase of the tide because the currents over the bar slope are low. Parameters of internal waves are estimated. Model simulations confirm generation of internal wave train by the tidal current descending downslope.     

Modeling the erosion of cohesive clay coasts

A model was developed to study the erosion of cohesive clay coasts in macro- to non-tidal environments. The model shares some of the characteristics of previous models, including the erosion of bare clay surfaces by wave generated bottom shear stresses, and of mobile, sediment-covered surfaces by abrasion. It differs from previous models, however, in several important ways. The morphodynamics of beaches with clay foundations, under different wave conditions, are based on a previously developed model for beaches on rocky shore platforms. Sediment thickness along a beach profile is calculated at regular intervals and compared with the maximum thickness that could be moved at that location under prevailing wave conditions. Wave friction factors are determined, where necessary, according to the occurrence and morphology of ripples on the bottom. In addition to abrasion and the effect of wave induced shear stresses on the clay bottom, erosion by stresses generated by wave impact at the bluff foot and on the intertidal platform is calculated using an expression derived from hard rock coastal models. Tides are represented by their computed tidal duration values, the amount of time each year that the water level falls within each 0.1 m vertical interval. Water depths are modified by wave setup and set-down conditions. Several preliminary model runs were made. The profiles were concave in the submarine zone and roughly linear in the intertidal zone. Equilibrium profiles developed which were maintained as they migrated landwards.     

Tidal interactions and disruptions of giant planets on highly eccentric orbits

We calculate the evolution of planets undergoing a strong tidal encounter using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), for a range of periastron separations. We find that outside the Roche limit, the evolution of the planet is well-described by the standard model of linear, non-radial, adiabatic oscillations. If the planet passes within the Roche limit at periastron, however, mass can be stripped from it, but in no case do we find enough energy transferred to the planet to lead to complete disruption. In light of the three new extrasolar planets discovered with periods shorter than two days, we argue that the shortest-period cases observed in the period-mass relation may be explained by a model whereby planets undergo strong tidal encounters with stars, after either being scattered by dynamical interactions into highly eccentric orbits, or tidally captured from nearly parabolic orbits. Although this scenario does provide a natural explanation for the edge found for planets at twice the Roche limit, it does not explain how such planets will survive the inevitable expansion that results from energy injection during tidal circularization.     

Crack azimuths on Europa: the G1 lineament sequence revisited

The tectonic sequence in the anti-jovian area covered by regional mapping images from Galileo's orbit E15 is determined from a study of cross-cutting relationships among lineament features. The sequence is used to test earlier results from orbit G1, based on lower resolution images, which appeared to display a progressive change in azimuthal orientation over about 90° in a clockwise sense. Such a progression is consistent with expected stress variations that would accompany plausible non-synchronous rotation. The more recent data provide a more complete record than the G1 data did. We find that to fit the sequence into a continual clockwise change of orientation would require at least 1000° (>5 cycles) of azimuthal rotation. If due to non-synchronous rotation of Europa, this result implies that we are seeing back further into the tectonic record than the G1 results had suggested. The three sets of orientations found by Geissler et al. now appear to have been spaced out over several cycles, not during a fraction of one cycle. While our more complete sequence of lineament formation is consistent with non-synchronous rotation, a statistical test shows that it cannot be construed as independent evidence. Other lines of evidence do support non-synchronous rotation, but azimuths of crack sequences do not show it, probably because only a couple of cracks form in a given region in any given non-synchronous rotation period.     

Refined seaward boundary conditions for modelling shallow water waves in semi-enclosed water bodies

Based on the theory of characteristics, this research elaborates on the numerical treatment of two types of seaward boundary conditions for modelling long-wave dynamics in truncated estuarine and coastal domains. These seaward boundary conditions are devised for the solution of the fully non-linear shallow water equations in the time domain. The first type is the clamped boundary, at which the water level variation is given and the velocity is computed along the characteristic line going out of the domain. The second type is the non-reflecting boundary, where the incident wave information is introduced and the reflected waves from inside the computational domain are allowed to escape at the same time. The essence of its numerical implementation is to distinguish the inward and outward characteristics and to disconnect the incoming characteristic relation from the actual flow inside the domain. Compared with previous techniques, the present method includes extra terms in the derivation to account for the effects of the uneven bed, bottom friction and shape of the characteristic lines. A shock-capturing finite difference method is used to solve the shallow water equations in the deviatoric format, but the seaward boundary algorithms constructed herein are generic and applicable to other solvers. The necessity of these refinements is highlighted by simulating the tidal oscillation in the Persian/Arabian Gulf, periodic wave runup on the coastline and the wave resonance in a narrow harbour. It is found that neglecting the bed slope at the boundary may result in biased mean water levels in the prediction.     

Interannual Sea Level Variations and Annual Tides in the Northwestern Pacific

Specific properties of the interannual sea level variations and annual tides in the Northwestern Pacific were studied. Several tide stations were monitored. The monthly mean sea level for the year of 1995 was analyzed at each tide station. A seismic event in 1995, some tectonic activity around the subject area, and the Kuroshio (the oceanic western boundary current) may possibly contaminate results which would have occurred from the astronomical annual tide alone.     

Binary asteroid systems: Tidal end states and estimates of material properties

The locations of the fully despun, double synchronous end states of tidal evolution, where the rotation rates of both the primary and secondary components in a binary system synchronize with the mean motion about the center of mass, are derived for spherical components. For a given amount of scaled angular momentum J/J′, the tidal end states are over-plotted on a tidal evolution diagram in terms of mass ratio of the system and the component separation (semimajor axis in units of primary radii). Fully synchronous orbits may not exist for every combination of mass ratio and angular momentum; for example, equal-mass binary systems require J/J′ > 0.44. When fully synchronous orbits exist for prograde systems, tidal evolution naturally expands the orbit to the stable outer synchronous solution. The location of the unstable inner synchronous orbit is typically within two primary radii and often within the radius of the primary itself. With the exception of nearly equal-mass binaries, binary asteroid systems are in the midst of lengthy tidal evolutions, far from their fully synchronous tidal end states. Of those systems with unequal-mass components, few have even reached the stability limit that splits the fully synchronous orbit curves into unstable inner and stable outer solutions.Calculations of material strength based on limiting the tidal evolution time to the age of the Solar System indicate that binary asteroids in the main belt with 100-km-scale primary components are consistent with being made of monolithic or fractured rock as expected for binaries likely formed from sub-catastrophic impacts in the early Solar System. To tidally evolve in their dynamical lifetime, near-Earth binaries with km-scale primaries or smaller created via a spin-up mechanism must be much weaker mechanically than their main-belt counterparts even if formed in the main belt prior to injection into the near-Earth region. Small main-belt binaries, those having primary components less than 10 km in diameter, could bridge the gap between the large main-belt binaries and the near-Earth binaries, as, depending on the age of the systems, small main-belt binaries could either be as strong as the large main-belt binaries or as weak as the near-Earth binaries. The inherent uncertainty in the age of a binary system is the leading source of error in calculation of material properties, capable of affecting the product of rigidity μ and tidal dissipation function Q by orders of magnitude. Several other issues affecting the calculation of μQ are considered, though these typically affect the calculation by no more than a factor of two. We also find indirect evidence within all three groups of binary asteroids that the semimajor axis of the mutual orbit in a binary system may evolve via another mechanism (or mechanisms) in addition to tides with the binary YORP effect being a likely candidate.