Application of Surface Spline Interpolation in Inversion of Bottom Friction Coefficients

Abstract

AbstractA new method for the inversion of bottom friction coefficients (BFCs) in a two-dimensional tidal model is proposed in this study. In this method, the field of BFCs is constructed by interpolating values at independent points using a surface spline. The surface spline interpolation has an advantage: that the constructed surface is smoother than the surface constructed by the traditionally used linear interpolation, which has unrealistic extrema. The method is validated in twin experiments where the prescribed nonlinear distribution of BFCs are better inverted with the surface spline interpolation. In practical experiments, the BFCs are inverted and the M2 tide in the Bohai Sea is simulated by assimilating the TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) data. The small errors between the simulation results and the observations, as well as the accurate cotidal charts, demonstrate the feasibility of the new method in practical application.