Spatial variability of tidal current in the coasts

Abstract

In this work we introduce a new way to see tidal current in terms of the phase relation between the maximum tidal current and maximum elevation under the circumstance that tidal current is of nearly rectilinear character or tidal ellipse dominated by long-axis velocity component. This enables us to see what tidal current at certain location looks like in terms of the delayed phase of the long-axis current component to elevation phase, or in terms of the dominancy of progressive or standing feature wave. Such representations of tidal currents by various efficient ways according to locations are helpful to understand how much tidal current at a certain location can differ from near or some far off locations. Various ways to examine the spatial feature of the tidal current are applied to the variability of tidal current around the Maenggol and Geocha water ways, off the southwestern tip of Korean peninsula, where people suffered from getting the accurate slack water times of tidal current at a certain location, based upon the current information at the some nearby point, since tidal current data are usually rare and tidal current has a large spatial variability. The proposed method reveals that even though the high water times of the M2 tidal elevation occurs nearly simultaneously within several minutes between two locations of interest, the times of maximum current occurring differs from each other by about 40 minutes,minated by long-axis velocity component. This enables us to see what tidal current at certain location looks like in terms of the delayed phase of the long-axis current component to elevation phase, or in terms of the dominancy of progressive or standing feature wave. Such representations of tidal currents by various efficient ways according to locations are helpful to understand how much tidal current at a certain location can differ from near or some far off locations. Various ways to examine the spatial feature of the tidal current are applied to the variability of tidal current around the Maenggol and Geocha water ways, off the southwestern tip of Korean peninsula, where people suffered from getting the accurate slack water times of tidal current at a certain location, based upon the current information at the some nearby point, since tidal current data are usually rare and tidal current has a large spatial variability. The proposed method reveals that even though the high water times of the M2 tidal elevation occurs nearly simultaneously within several minutes between two locations of interest, the times of maximum current occurring differs from each other by about 40 minutes,