On barotropic and baroclinic tides over an arbitrary sloping topography

Abstract. Some theoretical concepts about the frictionless dynamics of propagation of the barotropic tide over two-dimensional continental slopes of arbitrary shape are developed. A numerical procedure which generalizes the exact solution obtained over a rectilinear sloping topography is given. This technique can be applied to compute the harmonic components of the barotropic tide everywhere over sloping bottom contours of any shape. It permits in particular the avoidance of discontinuities at the boundaries of rectilinear-continental-slope profiles. The barotropic tidal results are used afterwards to calculate the barotropic forcing for the generation of internal tides. Numerical experiments are performed to study the interaction between the tide and some typical sloping topographies. A three-layered model is used for this purpose. Results are compared with those previously obtained over a rectilinear continental slope.