Tide predictions in shelf and coastal waters: Status and prospects

Abstract

The challenges of supplying accurate tide corrections for satellite altimetry in shelf and near-coastal environments are reviewed. Relative to the deep ocean, tides in shallow water are generally larger and shorter wavelength. Nonlinearity further complicates tide prediction because of the multitude of additional compound tides and overtides that must be accounted for and because standard deep-ocean methods of inferring minor tides are inapplicable. Development of accurate shelf and coastal tide models with high spatial resolution requires assimilation of high-quality data; for most of the globe, the Topex/Poseidon and Jason time series constitutes the primary source. Data assimilation with nested high-resolution models tied to lower resolution global models appears feasible, but it places severe demands on the accuracy and resolution of bathymetry data. Some envisioned next-generation altimeter missions, capable of mapping the ocean topography at very high resolution, could relax these demands by providing direct tidal measurements at the requisite scales. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.