Open AccessAccuracy assessment of recent ocean tide models
Author(s) -
Shum C. K.,
Woodworth P. L.,
Andersen O. B.,
Egbert G. D.,
Francis O.,
King C.,
Klosko S. M.,
Le Provost C.,
Li X.,
Molines JM,
Parke M. E.,
Ray R. D.,
Schlax M. G.,
Stammer D.,
Tierney C. C.,
Vincent P.,
Wunsch C. I.
Publication year - 1997
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 - 10.1029/97jc00445
Subject(s) - altimeter , geodetic datum , ocean surface topography , ocean tide , geology , data assimilation , geodesy , current (fluid) , ocean current , satellite , polar motion , internal tide , geophysics , oceanography , climatology , meteorology , earth's rotation , geography , internal wave , aerospace engineering , engineering
Over 20 global ocean tide models have been developed since 1994, primarily as a consequence of analysis of the precise altimetric measurements from TOPEX/POSEIDON and as a result of parallel developments in numerical tidal modeling and data assimilation. This paper provides an accuracy assessment of 10 such tide models and discusses their benefits in many fields including geodesy, oceanography, and geophysics. A variety of tests indicate that all these tide models agree within 2–3 cm in the deep ocean, and they represent a significant improvement over the classical Schwiderski 1980 model by approximately 5 cm rms. As a result, two tide models were selected for the reprocessing of TOPEX/POSEIDON Geophysical Data Records in late 1995. Current ocean tide models allow an improved observation of deep ocean surface dynamic topography using satellite altimetry. Other significant contributions include their applications in an improved orbit computation for TOPEX/POSEIDON and other geodetic satellites, to yield accurate predictions of Earth rotation excitations and improved estimates of ocean loading corrections for geodetic observatories, and to allow better separation of astronomical tides from phenomena with meteorological and geophysical origins. The largest differences between these tide models occur in shallow waters, indicating that the current models are still problematic in these areas. Future improvement of global tide models is anticipated with additional high‐quality altimeter data and with advances in numerical techniques to assimilate data into high‐resolution hydrodynamic models.