Observed enhanced internal tides in winter near the Luzon Strait

Abstract

Seasonal characteristics and nonlinear interaction of internal tides (ITs) near the Luzon Strait in the northeastern South China Sea are investigated using 285 day, in situ observation data. It is found that ITs, which are dominated by the first-mode wave throughout the year, are the strongest in subsurface layer. Baroclinic incoherent diurnal (semidiurnal) variance accounts for about 85.7% (78.3%) of diurnal (semidiurnal) ITs. The amplitude and seasonal variation of the diurnal ITs are more prominent than those that are semidiurnal, e.g., the largest kinetic energy densities of diurnal and semidiurnal baroclinic tidal currents are 2.81 and 0.83 KJ/m2 in winter, respectively. It is considered that there are two reasons for the significantly enhanced ITs in winter: (1) it may be due to the Kuroshio intrusion, and (2) the enhanced diurnal ITs may be due to the enhanced diurnal barotropic tidal currents, while the enhanced semidiurnal ITs may be caused by the strong nonlinear interaction between diurnal IT constituents O1 and K1 due to their high vertical shears in subsurface layer. Thus, harmonic semidiurnal constituent D2 with a similar frequency of constituent M2 is induced; it subsequently enhances the semidiurnal ITs in this subsurface layer, and the associated energy is carried downward to enhance the semidiurnal ITs in the upper and lower layers.