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Estimates of M 2 internal tide energy fluxes along the margin of Northwestern Pacific using TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data
Author(s) -
Tian Jiwei,
Zhou Lei,
Zhang Xiaoqian,
Liang Xinfeng,
Zheng Quanan,
Zhao Wei
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2003gl018008
Subject(s) - internal tide , altimeter , geology , baroclinity , energy flux , flux (metallurgy) , geodesy , oceanography , internal wave , climatology , physics , materials science , astronomy , metallurgy
TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data from October 1992 to June 2002 are used to calculate the energy flux of M 2 internal tides along the margin of Northwestern Pacific. This arc borderline of the Pacific Basin is characterized by sharp changes in bottom topography, which constitute good boundary conditions for internal tidal energy concentration. We extract baroclinic tides, that yield energy transmission, from temporarily coherent internal tide signals in the altimeter data. We use the field measurements of current velocities in the South China Sea (SCS) to test the method. The results show that satellite‐derived M 2 tide components agree with the field data very well. Computation results indicate that the maximum energy flux of M 2 internal tides, 3 kW m −1 , appears in the Ryukyu Trench. The total energy flux of M 2 internal tides along the margin of Northwestern Pacific is about 15GW.