Variability of internal tides in the coastal water area of Oahu Island (Hawaii)

Abstract

The variability of the parameters of semidiurnal internal tides in Mamala Bay (Oahu Island, Hawaii) was investigated using the experimental data obtained with ADCP bottom current profilers and ther-mistor strings. It was stated that the size, shape, and orientation of the orbits, as well as the sign of the rotation of the orbital currents, are rarely similar to those characteristic of progressive internal waves on a rotating Earth. It is supposed that such unusual features of the orbital currents are related to the interference of the waves that arrive from the straits rimming Oahu Island and to the waves that, under favorable conditions, are episodically generated at the shelf edge of Mamala Bay. Due to the fact that the floor inclinations of the shelf in the bay are supercritical for semidiurnal internal tides, the local generation of internal tides is poorly efficient.