Inverse Modeling of Coastal Tides

Abstract

The principal goal of this project is to develop efficient, relocatable, tidal data assimilation schemes that make use of all available information, including data (e.g., altimetry, current moorings, coastal radar) and dynamics to constrain barotropic and internal tides (especially tidal currents) in coastal areas and shallow seas. A secondary objective is to develop a better understanding of how uncertainties and approximations in the hydrodynamic equations limit the degree to which particular data types (e.g., spatially dense estimates of tidal elevations from altimetry, or surface currents from coastal radar) can constrain tidal currents and elevations in shallow water environments. I have three objectives in the current project period. The first is to adapt the computationally intensive methods developed by Egbert, Bennett, and Foreman [1994] for inverse tidal modeling at the global scale, into a relocatable inversion package that may be routinely applied to smaller scale (regional/coastal) barotropic tidal modeling. The second objective is to apply these methods to study tidal currents off the west coast of North America, with particular emphasis on the Oregon coastal zone where extensive current meter and coastal radar data are available. A third objective is to begin development of methods for tidal inversion in a three-dimensional stratified ocean. These methods will be tested on coastal radar and current meter data from the Oregon coast.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA542568

Entities

People

  • Gary D. Egbert

Organizations

  • Oregon State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Assimilation
  • Computer Programs
  • Databases
  • Differential Equations
  • Equations
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Domain
  • Information Science
  • Monte Carlo Method
  • North America
  • Ocean Tides
  • Oceans
  • Shallow Water
  • Three Dimensional
  • Tidal Currents
  • Water
  • Wave Equations

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Coastal Oceanography
  • Wave Propagation and Nonlinear Chaotic Dynamics.