Tidal Dynamics in the Bab El Mandab Strait Ewa Jarosz Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected]
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2002 Tidal dynamics in the Bab el Mandab Strait Ewa Jarosz Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons Recommended Citation Jarosz, Ewa, "Tidal dynamics in the Bab el Mandab Strait" (2002). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 4064. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/4064 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. TIDAL DYNAMICS IN THE BAB EL MANDAB STRAIT A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences by Ewa Jarosz M.S., Louisiana State University, 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................... 1 2. SURFACE TIDE IN THE BAB EL MANDAB STRAIT............................. 8 3. TIDAL CURRENTS IN THE BAB EL MANDAB STRAIT ....................... 11 3.1. Tidal current variance........................................................................ 12 3.2. Fortnightly modulations .................................................................... 14 3.3. Major diurnal and semidiurnal tidal current constituents.................. 19 3.3.1. Diurnal current constituents ............................................... 19 3.3.2. Semidiurnal current constituents........................................ 28 3.3.3. Comparison of the vertical distributions of tidal currents observed in the Bab el Mandab Strait with the existing models............................................................. 31 3.4. Relation between tidal elevation and currents................................... 36 3.5. Tidal transport ................................................................................... 38 3.6. Barotropic tidal current components................................................. 41 3.7. Barotropic tidal balance .................................................................... 43 3.8. Long period tidal constituents........................................................... 47 3.9. Higher tidal harmonics...................................................................... 50 4. BAROCLINIC TIDAL MOTION IN THE BAB EL MANDAB STRAIT .. 52 4.1. Baroclinic tidal currents .................................................................... 53 4.2. Density fluctuations........................................................................... 59 4.3. Empirical orthogonal function analysis of baroclinic tidal currents.............................................................................................. 62 4.4. Modal structure of the tides............................................................... 68 4.5. Baroclinic responses to tidal forcing in other regions....................... 73 5. TWO-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT MODEL OF BAROTROPIC TIDES IN THE BAB EL MANDAB STRAIT.............................................. 75 5.1. Model equations ................................................................................ 75 5.2. Model domain ................................................................................... 78 5.3. Boundary conditions and model parameters ..................................... 79 5.4. Model-data comparison..................................................................... 79 5.5. Tidal model elevations ...................................................................... 84 5.6. Tidal model currents.......................................................................... 88 5.7. Residual circulation........................................................................... 93 ii 5.8. Momentum balance........................................................................... 94 5.9. Energy flux and dissipation estimates............................................... 101 5.10. Summary ......................................................................................... 106 6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................ 109 REFERENCES................................................................................................................. 114 APPENDIX A: DATA SETS........................................................................................... 121 APPENDIX B: CURRENT ELLIPSE PARAMETERS.................................................. 124 APPENDIX C: NUMERICAL DISCRETIZATION OF THE MODEL (ADCIRC -2DDI) EQUATIONS............................................................................ 139 VITA ................................................................................................................................ 140 iii LIST OF TABLES 1. Amplitudes (A) and phases (g, GMT) of tidal elevation constituents .......................... 9 2. Ellipse parameters and the 95% errors of barotropic currents for the diurnal tidal constituents.................................................................................................................... 42 3. Ellipse parameters and the 95% errors of barotropic currents for the semidiurnal tidal constituents............................................................................................................ 43 4. Harmonic constants for the cross-strait and along-strait balance.................................. 44 5. Latitudes and longitudes of the water level stations used for the model verification .................................................................................................................... 80 6. The correlation coefficients (Corr) and standard deviations (SD) between the computed and measured tidal amplitudes and phases; N is the number of the stations; rms is the root mean square error.................................................................... 81 7. Comparison of computed (Com) and observed (Obs) K1/O1 and M2/S2 amplitudes (A) and phases (g, GMT) at the coastal stations ....................................... 81 8. Comparison between observed (Obs) and computed (Com) tidal current ellipse parameters: semimajor axis (M), semiminor axis (Mn), inclination angle (θ), and phase (g, GMT) ..................................................................................................... 83 9. Vertically integrated power flux (in Gigawatts, 1 GW = 109 Watts) normal to the transects shown in Figure 46........................................................................................103 10. Information for instruments deployed during the first phase of the BAM project .......121 11. Information for instruments deployed during the second phase of the BAM project............................................................................................................................122 12. Information for instruments deployed during the third phase of the BAM project ......122 13. The K1 ellipse parameters and their 95% errors for A2b mooring and winter stratification...................................................................................................................124 14. The K1 ellipse parameters and their 95% errors for A2b mooring and summer stratification...................................................................................................................124 15. The M2 ellipse parameters and their 95% errors for A2b mooring and winter stratification...................................................................................................................125 iv 16. The M2 ellipse parameters and their 95% errors for A2b mooring and summer stratification...................................................................................................................126 17. The K1 ellipse parameters and their 95% errors for B2b mooring and winter stratification...................................................................................................................127 18. The K1 ellipse parameters and their 95% errors for B2b mooring and summer stratification...................................................................................................................127 19. The M2 ellipse parameters and their 95% errors for B2b mooring and winter stratification...................................................................................................................128 20. The M2 ellipse parameters and their 95% errors for B2b mooring and summer stratification...................................................................................................................128 21. The K1 ellipse parameters and their 95% errors for C mooring and winter stratification...................................................................................................................129