Tidal propagation and dissipation in the Taiwan Strait

Abstract

Previous research on tides and tidal dynamics in the Taiwan Strait (TS) is reviewed in this paper. Tidal dynamics, which is the basic and dominant hydrodynamics in this area, attracts much interest in the last 30 years and till now its physical mechanism is still in debate. In this study, the major research methods and findings of previous works on barotropic tides in the TS are summarized.Based on Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM), the main tidal constituents (M2, S2, K1, O1) are well simulated with the mean root-mean-square (RMS) errors of 4.7, 2.0, 1.3 and 0.7cm between the observed and simulated tidal constants, respectively. It has been proved that semi-diurnal tidal movement is mainly determined by the waves from the East China Sea (ECS), while waves from the ECS and the Luzon Strait (LS) play comparable roles in diurnal tidal movement in the TS by linear superposition and the interaction of these two waves is the main cause for the progressive diurnal tidal waves in the TS. Furthermore, energy analysis revealed that the M2 tidal wave system in the TS and its adjacent area south to the shoal is an standing wave system and the anti-node appears in the central TS while the wave node locates in the shoal area, which can be contributed to the interaction of the incident waves from the ECS and the topography step south to Taiwan island, while the shoal also has an impact on the whole semi-diurnal tidal wave system in the TS. This standing wave system is consistent with the little energy dissipation in the central TS and much energy dissipation in the southern TS, where the shallow water effect also contributes to the local dissipation to some extent.