Numerical Modeling of Tide and Tide-induced Drifting of Particles Released from the Sunken Ship in the Southeastern Yellow Sea

Abstract

Drifting analysis of casualties released from a ship accidentally sunken in coastal sea regions off the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula on April 16, 2014, showed a particular trend of northward drifting. To understand how this takes place and to examine tidal and residual current features in the region, a fine grid tidal modeling has been carried out in this sub-region of the southeastern Yellow Sea. Examination of the phase and sea level slope differences in several waterways of the modeled area suggests that there are noticeable differences in the dominant M2 tidal current speed. It is shown that the M2-driven tidal residual currents are dominant particularly with the prevalence of the northward residual currents near the sunken ship area. A particle trajectory modeling was performed and its accuracy was validated by showing that the locations of 3 casualties (among 300 persons) found outside the sunken ship off the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula on April 16, 2014, were within the model-predicted area. It was found that the general northward scattering pattern of continuously released particles for 15 days is likely to result from the M2-driven residual currents in this region.