A Process Study of the Tidal Circulation in the Persian Gulf

Type Article
Date 2012
Language English
Author(s) Pous Stephane1, Carton Xavier2, Lazure PascalORCID3
Affiliation(s) 1 : LOCEAN/IPSL, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
2 : LPO/IUEM, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France
3 : DYNECO, IFREMER, Brest, France
Source Open Journal of Marine Science (2161-7384) (Scientific Research Publishing, Inc,), 2012 , Vol. 02 , N. 04 , P. 131-140
DOI 10.4236/ojms.2012.24016
Keyword(s) Persian Gulf, Barotropic Tide, Hydrodynamical Modeling, Comparison with Data
Abstract A homogeneous shallow-water model with free surface is used to model the tidal circulation in the Persian Gulf. The numerical finite-difference model includes harmonic diffusion of horizontal momentum and quadratic bottom friction, it has a 9 km mesh size and it is forced by 7 tidal components at its southern boundary. High precision bathymetric data are used to obtain the bottom topography. The numerical model is run for more than a year. The results are the following: 1) The model accurately reproduces the tidal phase and amplitude observed at 42 tidal gauges in the region. This accuracy is attributed to the presence of the 7 components which are able to interact nonlinearly; 2) The amphidromic points are also well positioned by the model due to a proper choice of bathymetry. This was checked also with a simpler geometry of the domain; 3) The tidal currents can be strong in the Straits of Hormuz and in shallow areas; thus they will have an effect of the hydrology of the region. The residual currents are weak so that they will be negligible for the large-scale circulation on long periods; 4) Finally, the sea-surface elevation forecast by the model is in close agreement with in-situ measurements of pressure in the Straits, performed during the GOGP99 experiment.
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