On topographic coupling of surface and internal tides

The problem of the generation of internal tides through the interaction of surface tides with oceanic bottom topography is re-examined, taking into ac count the horizontal components of the Earth's rotation. It is shown that p revious models that have omitted these terms may be readily extended to inc lude them, and changes in the magnitude and character of the barotropic to baroclinic conversion are estimated. For semi-diurnal tides the energy conv ersion is increased, but only by about 2%, However, the character of the wa ves differs at high latitudes, where the phase and location of the wave ene rgy may change by as much as 14%. Accordingly, inclusion of these terms is recommended in future studies with these models. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.