Deriving offshore tidal datums using satellite altimetry around Malaysian seas

Abstract

Tidal datums are important for calculating spatial coordinates especially the elevation relative to mean sea level and also crucial for defining the state sovereignty boundaries over maritime areas. Normally, sea level was measured by tide gauges along the coastal for tidal datums computation. However, knowledge of tides is still restricted in coastal areas. Furthermore, tidal range at offshore was simply assumed to be similar as coastal due to the difficulties installing offshore tide gauges. The launching of satellite altimeter technologies with precise orbit determination since 1993 had provided significant accuracy of sea surface height (SSH) measurements. The observed SSH from satellite altimetry can be offered as tide gauge measurements at each location globally. This study aims to derive offshore tidal datums using satellite altimetry around Malaysian seas. SSH time series from TOPEX, Jason-1, Jason-2 and Geosat Follow On (GFO) were analysed using harmonic analysis approach to estimate harmonic constants. A minimum of 19 years tidal predictions were then performed using UTide software to determine Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) and Highest Astronomical Tide (HAT). These tidal datums were interpolated into regular 0.125° grids and were assessed with ten selected coastal tide gauges. The findings showed the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of spline interpolation yielded better accuracy, 25.5 cm (LATMSL) and 17.4 cm (HATMSL) as compared to the RMSE of Kriging interpolation, 31.8 cm (LATMSL) and 33.8 cm (HATMSL). In conclusion, deriving offshore tidal datums can serve as input data to unify marine database with coastal areas and also can support many marine applications.