Numerical Simulation of the Shallow Water Tides in Bohai Sea

Abstract

The Princeton Ocean Model (POM), a three-dimensional primitive equation ocean model, is used to reproduce the tidal mechanism in the Bohai Sea. Firstly, the model results are validated by examining the harmonic constants of four major tides at 11 tide gauges, and then the shallow water tides are further focused on. According to the model results, it is found that both M4 and MS4 tides propagate in the similar way, which is characterized by five tidal amphidromic systems in Bohai Sea, and four of them rotate anticlockwise while another one rotates clockwise. It is also found that the M6 tide shows seven amphidromic points in Bohai Sea, among which four rotate anticlockwise and three rotate clockwise. The model results also show that the amplitudes of three shallow water tides are relatively large in shallow coastal waters, which is closely related to generation mechanism of the shallow water tides.