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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Physical Oceanography
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1475593

Seasonal Variation and Fundamental Characteristics of Baroclinic Tides in the Arabian Gulf

Provisionally accepted
Daquan Guo Daquan Guo 1PENG ZHAN PENG ZHAN 2Jingyi Ma Jingyi Ma 1Panagiotis Vasou Panagiotis Vasou 1George Krokos George Krokos 1Hamed Alghamdi Hamed Alghamdi 3Ibrahim Hoteit Ibrahim Hoteit 1*
  • 1 Earth Science and Engineering, Kaust, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • 2 Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
  • 3 Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In the Arabian Gulf, baroclinic tides significantly impact physical and biological phenomena, shaping the region's marine ecosystem. This study provides the first high-resolution investigation of the baroclinic tides using the three-dimensional, nonhydrostatic MIT general circulation model (MITgcm). The simulation outputs were validated against data from Oregon State University's Tidal Inversion Software (OTIS), tidal stations, and mooring observations, showing high agreement and confirming the model's accuracy.We further examined the characteristics of baroclinic and barotropic tides, identifying four key regions with high-intensity baroclinic tides based on energy budget analysis: 1) the narrow Strait of Hormuz; 2) the strait's entrance along the trough, including the islands Farur, Siri, Abumusa, and Greater Tunb; 3) the central axial trough area with sea-bottom ridges; and 4) the northern area following a secondary ridge. Most baroclinic tides dissipate quickly due to interactions with complex bottom topography and do not propagate far from their sources. Significant seasonal variation shows that in winter, only the Strait of Hormuz and the area around the four islands showed significant baroclinic tidal energy, likely due to well-mixed upper layer seawater that hinders thermocline disturbances. The strong correlation between the simulation results and satellite images of internal waves suggests that intense baroclinic tides generate internal solitary waves in the Gulf.

    Keywords: Baroclinic tides, Mixing, The Arabian Gulf, Internal solitary waves, stratification

    Received: 04 Aug 2024; Accepted: 07 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guo, ZHAN, Ma, Vasou, Krokos, Alghamdi and Hoteit. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ibrahim Hoteit, Earth Science and Engineering, Kaust, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.