2 APPLICATIONS OF TAYLORS PROBLEM SOLUTION FOR FINITE RECTANGULAR SEMIENCLOSED BASINS

Taylor's problem solution for a finite, rectangular, of constant depth , homogeneous and semi-enclosed basin is applied in two different case s. Bottom friction is taken into account and boundary forcing is speci fied at the open side. In the first application, current amphidromic p oints (CAPs) are investigated. In order to achieve this aim, a study o f the sensitivity of horizontal distributions of ellipticity to change s in the sea surface elevation designated at the open boundary and to frictional effects was performed. The calculations show that establish ed results for semi-infinite channels, i.e. a pair of current amphidro mes related to velocity vectors rotating cyclonically and anticyclonic ally (middle current amphidromic points, MCAP) and a single current am phidrome near the closed boundary related to velocity vectors rotating cyclonically (closed boundary current amphidromic point, CBCAP), may change radically. A series of experiments made evident that, in the vi cinity of open boundaries, a single or a pair of current amphidromes ( open boundary current amphidromic point, OBCAP) are also possible. Res ults of numerical simulations of semidiurnal tides exhibit multiple el lipticity maxima in embayments situated around the North Sea. In the s econd application, it will be shown that these structures are reproduc ed when calculations are in carried out for a basin where the open bou ndary is large in comparison to the length of the embayment. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.