Residual eddies in a tidal channel

Abstract

Persistent residual eddies in a tidal channel in Wassaw Sound, Georgia, were resolved through shipboard observations. The residual eddies appear to be linked to bathymetry and coastlines. The semidiurnal tidal constituent, which explains about 90% of the variability of the data, was found to be a standing wave and the tidal wave propagation induced residual flow was minimal, so the advective nonlinearity was one of the major contributors to the residual eddies. From the vorticity point of view, if the lateral friction is neglected, three terms contribute to the generation of the relative vorticity in the depth-averaged vorticity equation. An important fact is that all these terms include the depth function: the interaction between the advection and bathymetry gradient, the interaction between advection and bathymetry, and the interaction between mean pressure gradient and the bathymetry gradient.