Abstract
Abstract. Consequences of tidal dynamics on hydro-sedimentary processes are a recurrent issue in estuarine and coastal processes studies, and accurate tidal solutions are a prerequisite for modeling sediment transport, especially in macro-tidal regions. The motivation for the study presented in this publication is to implement and optimize a model configuration that will satisfy this prerequisite in the frame of a larger objective in order to study the sediment dynamics and fate from the Red River Delta to the Gulf of Tonkin from a numerical hydrodynamical–sediment coupled model. Therefore, we focus on the main tidal constituents to conduct sensitivity experiments on the bathymetry and bottom friction parameterization. The frequency-domain solver available in the hydrodynamic unstructured grid model T-UGOm has been used to reduce the computational cost and allow for wider parameter explorations. Tidal solutions obtained from the optimal configuration were evaluated from tide measurements derived from satellite altimetry and tide gauges; the use of an improved bathymetry dataset and fine friction parameter adjustment significantly improved our tidal solutions. However, our experiments seem to indicate that the solution error budget is still dominated by bathymetry errors, which is the most common limitation for accurate tidal modeling.
Highlights
The impacts of tide on open seas and coastal seas are nowadays largely studied, as they influence the oceanic circulation as well as the sediment transport and the biogeochemical activity of ecosystems
For the purpose of providing an improved tidal solution, we have developed a bathymetry with a better precision, named TONKIN_bathymetry (Fig. 1c, d)
We present the results concerning the sensitivity of the modeled tidal solutions to the choice of bathymetry dataset and to the choice of bottom friction parameterization
Summary
The impacts of tide on open seas and coastal seas are nowadays largely studied, as they influence the oceanic circulation as well as the sediment transport and the biogeochemical activity of ecosystems. The inclusion of tides and tidal forcings in circulation models is critical for the representation and study of tides and simulating the circulation and the mixing through different processes: bottom friction modulation by tidal currents, mixing enhanced by vertical tidal currents shear and mixing induced by internal tides, and nonlinear interactions between tidal currents and the general circulation (Carter and Merrifield, 2007; Herzfeld, 2009; Guarnieri et al, 2013). Including these mechanisms in circulation models has improved the representation of the seasonal variability in stratifications cycles compared to models without tides (Holt et al, 2017; Maraldi et al, 2013)
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