Ocean Tides from TOPEX/Poseidon Sea Level Data

Abstract

Tidal constants are computed from TOPEX/Poseidon sea level data in the northeast Pacific Ocean for the period of September 1992?December 1997. The method used is harmonic analysis. Tidal constituents are also calculated at track crossover locations, where twice as many observations are available. The crossover constituents are compared with nearest alongtrack constituents and with constituents at 57 pelagic sea level stations in the northeast Pacific. Examples of small-scale features in the alongtrack constituents are presented. These include a strong evidence of internal M2 tides propagating away from the Aleutian Islands and of K1 and O1 shelf waves in the northern Gulf of Alaska. Good agreement was found between the shelf waves observed in altimetry data and those calculated by a numerical tidal model.