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Systematic Bias In Baroclinic Energy Estimates In Shelf Seas, Gordon R. Stephenson, J. A. Mattias Green, Mark E. Inall

Faculty Publications

A simple model of an internal wave advected by an oscillating barotropic flow suggests flaws in standard approaches to estimating properties of the internal tide. When the M₂ barotropic tidal current amplitude is of similar size to the phase speed of the M₂ baroclinic tide, spectral and harmonic analysis techniques lead to erroneous estimates of the amplitude, phase, and energy in the M₂ internal tide. In general, harmonic fits and bandpass or low-pass filters that attempt to isolate the lowest M₂ harmonic significantly underestimate the strength of M₂ baroclinic energy fluxes in shelf seas. Baroclinic …