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Secular changes in the solar semidiurnal tide of the western North Atlantic Ocean
Author(s) -
Ray Richard D.
Publication year - 2009
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 - 10.1029/2009gl040217
Subject(s) - tide gauge , amplitude , secular variation , forcing (mathematics) , oceanography , geology , climatology , sea level , geophysics , physics , quantum mechanics
An analysis of twentieth century tide gauge records reveals that the solar semidiurnal tide S 2 has been decreasing in amplitude along the eastern coast of North America and at the mid‐ocean site Bermuda. In relative terms the observed rates are unusually large, of order 10% per century. Periods of greatest change, however, are inconsistent among the stations, and roughly half the stations show increasing amplitude since the late 1990s. Excepting the Gulf of Maine, lunar tides are either static or slightly increasing in amplitude; a few stations show decreases. Large changes in solar, but not lunar, tides suggest causes related to variable radiational forcing, but the hypothesis is at present unproven.