Seasonal characteristics of internal tides and their responses to background currents in the Luzon Strait

FANG Yong; HOU Yijun; JING Zhiyou

doi:10.1007/s13131-015-0747-z

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Article Navigation > Acta Oceanologica Sinica > 2015 > 34(11): 46-54

FANG Yong, HOU Yijun, JING Zhiyou. Seasonal characteristics of internal tides and their responses to background currents in the Luzon Strait[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2015, 34(11): 46-54. doi: 10.1007/s13131-015-0747-z

Citation:

FANG Yong, HOU Yijun, JING Zhiyou. Seasonal characteristics of internal tides and their responses to background currents in the Luzon Strait[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2015, 34(11): 46-54. doi: 10.1007/s13131-015-0747-z

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Seasonal characteristics of internal tides and their responses to background currents in the Luzon Strait

doi: 10.1007/s13131-015-0747-z

1.
State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography (LTO), South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
2.
Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves (KLOCAW), Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China

Received Date: 2015-03-19
Rev Recd Date: 2015-06-06

Abstract

Abstract

The spatial-temporal characteristics of internal tides (ITs) in the southwest Luzon Strait are examined, based on 9-month mooring current records from autumn 2008 to summer 2009. The results of spectral analysis show that the ITs in diurnal and semidiurnal frequencies are prominent at the mooring site, especially for the clockwise rotary component. The diurnal ITs are mostly dominated by the first mode except for that in spring when the second mode is relatively predominant. The semidiurnal ITs display a variable multimodal structure. Moreover, an apparent difference is detected in the kinetic energy of diurnal ITs. The energy is strongest in winter, and followed by that in summer, whereas the value is smallest in spring and autumn. It is suggested that the incoherent motions are responsible for the significant seasonal variations of diurnal ITs, reflecting interaction between diurnal ITs and the varying background conditions. However, the semidiurnal ITs are independent of seasonal change, whose energy is smaller and only one-third of the diurnal energy in winter. Nevertheless, the abnormal variations of semidiurnal ITs are also related to the variable background conditions. The incoherent semidiurnal constituent accounts for about 37% of the total semidiurnal tidal kinetic energy, but the diurnal tidal motions contain fewer incoherent component (22.2%).
- internal tide,
- seasonal variation,
- background current,
- Luzon Strait

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References(44)

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