A Lagrangian mean theory on coastal sea circulation with inter-tidal transports Ⅱ. Numerical Experiments

The results of the new concept of coastal sea circulation are demonstrated by numerical simulations for the first time. The numerical experiments in three types of rectangular model seas illustrate the dependence of circulation on tidal phases due to the convectively nonlinear effect which is estimated by a newly defined drift dispersion in-dex. Then, the present theory is applied in the Bohai Sea of China. At the Bohai Straits and the Huanghe River mouth area the circulation direction even reverses owing to different initial tidal phases which shows that the the-ory copes with nonlinearity well. The calculated M₂ tide-induced residual circulation shows that a clockwise gyre exists in the center of an anticlockwise gyre in the central Bohai Sea due to the topographic features. In the Bo-hai Gulf the tide induced circulation shows a 3D structure with outflow at the surface and the inflow at the bottom which can partly explains the spread of the Huanghe River fresh water out of the Bohai Gulf and the inflow of the sediment from the Huanghe River.