Open AccessInteraction of the Okhotsk Sea diurnal tides with the Kashevarov Bank polynya
Author(s) -
Polyakov Igor,
Martin Seelye
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/1999jc900308
Subject(s) - barotropic fluid , geology , residual , current (fluid) , amplitude , climatology , oceanography , sea ice , clockwise , geophysics , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science
Satellite images show the existence of a recurrent polynya directly over and in the vicinity of Kashevarov Bank. Our modeling results using a coupled ice‐ocean model show that tides are important in the establishment and maintenance of this polynya. Ice appears and grows in areas surrounding the bank, while over the bank, tidal mixing transports heat to the sea surface, resulting in ice melt and polynya formation. The strong cooling of the upper sea layer forms a 100–200 m thick surface layer with negative temperatures. The large current amplitudes of the basic tidal waves K 1 and O 1 generate through nonlinear interactions a clockwise residual current and ice drift as well as secondary oscillations in the semidiurnal, fortnightly, and other tidal bands. In general, ice causes an amplification of the tidal currents and density‐driven components of the residual circulation over Kashevarov Bank while the barotropic component of the residual flow is weakened because of the underice boundary layer.