Vertical structure of tidal flows at the entrance to Guaymas Bay, Mexico

A 144-day bottom-mounted ADP experiment at the entrance to Guaymas Bay was used to examine the vertical structure of the tidal flows of a small basin (33.6 km2) located in a semiarid region. Harmonic analysis techniques were used to extract the tidal ellipse parameters of the time series of ADP and...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: José Gómez-Valdés, Juan A. Dworak, Heriberto J. Vázquez, Manuel Paz
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:México
Institución:Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada
Repositorio:Redalyc-CICESE
OAI Identifier:oai:redalyc.org:56823341005
Acceso en línea:https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=56823341005
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ciencias de la Tierra
Tides
Guaymas Bay
tidal current
semiarid lagoon
Gulf of California
Descripción
Sumario:A 144-day bottom-mounted ADP experiment at the entrance to Guaymas Bay was used to examine the vertical structure of the tidal flows of a small basin (33.6 km2) located in a semiarid region. Harmonic analysis techniques were used to extract the tidal ellipse parameters of the time series of ADP and to determine amplitude and phase of the tidal components of additional time series of tide height from two inner sites taken before the experiment. The K1-current and the M2-current were the tidal currents of foremost importance; they were aligned with topography and showed amplitudes of 7.8 ± 0.2 cm s-1 and 7.4 ± 0.3 cm s-1, respectively. The M4-current was the principal shallow water tidal current with amplitude of 1.0 ± 0.2 cm s-1. Because of the small embayment condition, the main tidal motions showed characteristics of a standing wave. The vertical structure of the tidal currents was parabolic, which suggests that the barotropic tidal currents were affected by boundary layer process, furthermore, the mean current profile confirmed previous indications of inverse estuarine circulation. The diurnal currents rotated anticlockwise in the upper layer and clockwise in the lower layer, which suggests that they were modulated by stratification.