On charting global ocean tides

Abstract

This review article highlights the three‐century development of our scientific understanding of ocean tides, culminating through myths, paradoxes, and controversies in a global tide model that now permits the prediction of the instantaneous total tide anywhere in the open oceans with an accuracy of better than 10 cm. All major aspects of tidal research, including empirical, mathematical, and empirical‐mathematical methods, are considered. Particular attention is drawn to the most recently developed computerized techniques comprehending hydrodynamical dissipation and secondary tide‐generating forces, finite‐differencing schemes, geometric boundary and bathymetry modeling, and hydrodynamical interpolation of properly selected empirical tide data. Numerous computer experiments are mentioned that were carried out by various researchers in order to evaluate the magnitudes of the featured effects. Further possible improvements are mentioned, especially in nearshore areas, in the Arctic Sea, and near Antarctica, where empirical tide and bathymetry data are either rough or marginal.

A 3‐D data‐assimilative tidal model of the northwest Atlantic

“…The M 2 intensification in Ungava Bay, immediately west of Cape Chidley, is well reproduced. Amphidromic points in the deep North Atlantic (Schwiderski, 1980) and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are also well reproduced. There are rapid phase and amplitude changes over the western Scotian Shelf because of the resonance in the adjacent Bay of Fundy (Greenberg, 1983), with amplitudes increasing to a maximum of approximately 4 m at the northern extreme of the Bay of Fundy and a phase shift of approximately 90° occurring across Georges Bank.…”

Modeling tidal currents beneath Filchner‐Ronne Ice Shelf and on the adjacent continental shelf: Their effect on mixing and transport

“…The domain covers the southern continental shelf, including the ice shelf-covered region. The model is driven at its boundary by a larger-scale application of the same code [ et al, 1996], which in turn is driven at its boundary by the global tidal model of Schwiderski [1980]. In this study we are not concerned with the precise prediction of tides for the region.…”

Eddy activities of the surface layer in the western North Pacific detected by satellite altimeter and radiometer

“…Standard data corrections were made using values provided in the GDR (Geophysical Data Record). The solid-earth tide correction, ocean tide correction, wet and dry tropospheric correction, and ionospheric correction were all done; the Schwiderski (1980) tide model was used for oceanic tide correction. The inverse barometer and electro-magnetic bias corrections were not applied, because the correction algorithms have not yet been well established (vanDam and Wahr, 1993;Ponte, 1994;Glazman et al, 1994).…”