Tides in Marginal, Semi-Enclosed and Coastal Seas - Part I: Sea Surface
Height
5.5 Sea of Japan
The tides in the Sea of Japan are significantly smaller than those of
the neighboring Yellow/East China Seas and the Sea of Okhotsk. The Sea
of Japan is very nearly insulated from the effects of open ocean by
narrow straits, which very much limit the tidal amplitudes reachable
inside. Consequently, both the semidiurnal and diurnal tides in the
Sea of Japan are rather small, except in the northern region near
Tartary Bay, where the tidal energy is funneled in to provide much
larger sea level responses.
Figure 78 shows
the bottom topography and the location of selected tide gage stations
in the Sea of Japan. The
shelves around the Sea of Japan are noticeably very narrow. Figures 79
to 82 show the
M2,
S2,
K1 and
O1
tides in the region, while
Figure 83 shows the predominantly diurnal
nature of tides in there. Defant
(1961), as well as Kang et al (1990) and Nishida (1980) appear to be
the most readily accessible source of observed tides in this region.
Figure 84
shows the (M2+S2) semidiurnal and (K1+O1) diurnal tides from
Ogura (1933) as presented in Defant (1961).
Figures 72 and
73
present the model results of Kang et al, as well as the observed fields
derived by Nishida. Again, our results are very similar to the results
of aforementioned researchers, most notably Defant's and Nishida's.
However, our results depict a degenerate semidiurnal amphidromic point
close to the Russian coast near Tartary Bay, whereas Defant, Kang et al
and Nishida illustrate a fully developed amphidromic point. The reason
for this is not clear, although it could be the lack of proper
resolution in Tartary Bay.
Figures and additional results for the Sea of Japan
-
Figure 78.
The bottom topography of the Sea of Japan
region, with tide gage locations overlaid.
-
Figure 79. The Sea of Japan
M2 tide
derived from the CU/NAVOCEANO model
using data assimilation of tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Sea of Japan
M2 scatter plot
of the model values versus tide gage observations,
for model run with data assimilation of
tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Figure 80. The Sea of Japan
S2 tide
derived from the CU/NAVOCEANO model
using data assimilation of tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Sea of Japan
S2 scatter plot
of the model values versus tide gage observations,
for model run with data assimilation of
tide gages and altimetric data.
-
The Sea of Japan
N2 tide
derived from the CU/NAVOCEANO model
using data assimilation of tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Sea of Japan
N2 scatter plot
of the model values versus tide gage observations,
for model run with data assimilation of
tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Figure 81. The Sea of Japan
K1 tide
derived from the CU/NAVOCEANO model
using data assimilation of tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Sea of Japan
K1 scatter plot
of the model values versus tide gage observations,
for model run with data assimilation of
tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Figure 82. The Sea of Japan
O1 tide
derived from the CU/NAVOCEANO model
using data assimilation of tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Sea of Japan
O1 scatter plot
of the model values versus tide gage observations,
for model run with data assimilation of
tide gages and altimetric data.
-
The Sea of Japan
P1 tide
derived from the CU/NAVOCEANO model
using data assimilation of tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Sea of Japan
P1 scatter plot
of the model values versus tide gage observations,
for model run with data assimilation of
tide gages and altimetric data.
-
Figure 83. The nature of the tides in the Sea of Japan:
(M2+S2)/(K1+O1) ratio.
-
Figure 84. (a) The Sea of Japan 2(M2+S2)
tide chart derived from Ogura (1933).
The tidal range is given in meters, and the M2 cophase
contours have been overlaid (relative to 135 degrees East or GMT-9.0).
(b) The same as (a) but for the 2(K1+O1) tidal range, and with the K1
cophase overlaid.
The tides in the Sea of Japan are effected by the co-oscillating tides from
the Yellow/East China Seas. During high tides, the SOJ is filled with the
inflowing YES tidal waters. As the tides propagate into the northern portion
of the SOJ, the wave amplitudes are increased due to the shallow depths and
funneling of tidal wave power. The filling and draining of the Sea of
Japan is easily seen in the animation.
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