Tide variation and signals during 2000-2004 in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Riyad Manasrah

doi:10.4236/ns.2013.512154

Abstract

Variations of tide and mean sea level (MSL) were studied during the period August 2000-March 2004 in the northern Gulf of Aqaba to detect the seasonal differences of tide records and tide components signals. The study revealed seasonal cycle of the MSL in the northern Gulf, which was lower during summer than in winter due to the relative strong wind and higher evaporation during summer. The MSL during the year of 2003 was the lowest comparing to the other years during the study period which might be related to wind driven force and mixed layer depth. The statistical comparison analysis of the MSL among winters, springs and summers of the years 20002004 exhibited significant difference values (p < 0.0001) among springs and summers, whereas no significant differences among winters (p  0.1) were manifested. Power spectrum analysis of the MSL revealed six distinguished signals with different periods that four of these signals (12.36, 6.19, 4.12 and 1.01 h) were superimposed by seiches in both the Gulf of Aqaba for the first mode and the Red Sea for the second and third mode with the principle harmonic components. The signals of 23.87 and 8.44 h are basically a luni-solar diurnal partial tide (K1) and a lunar terdiurnal constituent (M3), respectively.

Highlights

The Gulf of Aqaba is a unique semi-enclosed water body located at the northern end of the Red Sea (Figure 1)
A pressure sensor was deployed on a base settled on the bottom of coastal water in front of the Marine Science Station (MSS) in the northern Gulf of Aqaba (Figure 1)
Mean sea level (MSL) at a suggested bench mark nearby the tide gauge (Figure 2), which is represented a known altitude in proportionality to Global mean sea level (MSL), were measured using physical scales on the ground and correlated with the concurrently recorded MSL at the MSS by the tide gauge in order to generate a long term records of the MSL in the northern Gulf of Aqaba reference to Global MSL during the period August 2000-March 2004 (Figures 1 and 2)

Summary

Introduction

The Gulf of Aqaba is a unique semi-enclosed water body located at the northern end of the Red Sea (Figure 1). The seasonal variation of the sea surface temperature in the Gulf is about 6 ̊C - 7 ̊C with mean value of about 23.9 ̊C. 200 m the water is homogenous during summer and winter [1,2,3]. The Gulf of Aqaba is located within the very warm portion of Sahara bio-climatic zone. Winds during all seasons of the year are fairly similar in terms of magnitude (mean: 4 - 5.5 ms−1) and direction (90% northerly winds). Winds represent a diurnal cycle, while no signals appear during winter and spring seasons [7,8,9]

Methods

Results

Conclusion