Tide at the eastern section of the Strait of Gibraltar

From October 1995 to April 1996, three mooring lines were deployed at the e astern entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar. The spatial coverage of the moo ring array allows for a good description of the tides. They exhibit a domin ant semidiurnal nature and a noticeable baroclinic structure that matches t he one of the mean exchange. Tidal currents in the upper layer are irregula r and usually too weak to reverse the mean upper layer how that keeps on fl owing east. Lower layer flow reverses with semidiurnal periodicity because of the smallness of the mean flow and the appreciable amplitude of the regu lar semidiurnal oscillation of tidal currents in this layer. Tidal transpor ts can be satisfactorily compared with previous estimates of Bryden et al. [1994] if we allow for strong internal divergences associated with the inte rnal tide. No significant eddy flux of water transport (tidal rectification ) is observed at the eastern section, contrary to the almost 50% of the tot al layer transport found by Bryden et al. [1994] in Camarinal Sill section. Time-dependent hydraulic theory provides a good scenario for interpreting these two independent sets of observations despite the fact that the compos ite Froude number does not reach the critical values predicted in the hydra ulic models most of the time.