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Energetics of M₂ Barotropic-to-Baroclinic Tidal Conversion at the Hawaiian Islands Public Deposited

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  • A high-resolution primitive equation model simulation is used to form an energy budget for the principal semidiurnal tide (M₂) over a region of the Hawaiian Ridge from Niihau to Maui. This region includes the Kaena Ridge, one of the three main internal tide generation sites along the Hawaiian Ridge and the main study site of the Hawaii Ocean Mixing Experiment. The 0.01°–horizontal resolution simulation has a high level of skill when compared to satellite and in situ sea level observations, moored ADCP currents, and notably reasonable agreement with microstructure data. Barotropic and baroclinic energy equations are derived from the model’s sigma coordinate governing equations and are evaluated from the model simulation to form an energy budget. The M₂ barotropic tide loses 2.7 GW of energy over the study region. Of this, 163 MW (6%) is dissipated by bottom friction and 2.3 GW (85%) is converted into internal tides. Internal tide generation primarily occurs along the flanks of the Kaena Ridge and south of Niihau and Kauai. The majority of the baroclinic energy (1.7 GW) is radiated out of the model domain, while 0.45 GW is dissipated close to the generation regions. The modeled baroclinic dissipation within the 1000-m isobath for the Kaena Ridge agrees to within a factor of 2 with the area-weighted dissipation from 313 microstructure profiles. Topographic resolution is important, with the present 0.01° resolution model resulting in 20% more barotropic-to-baroclinic conversion compared to when the same analysis is performed on a 4-km resolution simulation. A simple extrapolation of these results to the entire Hawaiian Ridge is in qualitative agreement with recent estimates based on satellite altimetry data.
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  • Carter, G. S., and Coauthors, 2008: Energetics of M₂ Barotropic-to-Baroclinic Tidal Conversion at the Hawaiian Islands. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 38, 2205–2223.
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  • 38
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  • 10
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  • This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant OCE0425347. The microstructure and moored current data employed in this paper were collected as part of the Hawaii Ocean Mixing Experiment. The microstructure data collection was supported by NSF Grants OCE9818693 and OCE9819535 to M. Gregg and J. Miller at the University of Washington; the mooring data collection was supported by NSF Grant OCE9819533 to D. Luther and M. Merrifield at the University of Hawaii, and Grant OCE9819532 to M. Levine and T. Boyd at Oregon State University. The temperature and salinity data from Station ALOHA were supplied by the HOT program (NSF Grants OCE9303094, 0117919, and 0327513).
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