Numerical simulation of tides and tidal currents in the East China Sea, Hangzhou Bay and Yangtze Estuary

Abstract

The spring tide in the East China Sea on September 4, 1989, is simulated with coarse grids. As the open sea boundary conditions, tide are constructed from constituents at 24 stations along the boundary. The computed tidal current explains well the formation of sand bars at Chonggang. With finer grids, the tide in Hangzohou Bay and Yantze Estuary is also simulated, by using outputs of the simulation with coarse grids as the boundary condition. In Hangzhou Bay, tidal currents mostly form linearly oscillating flow, affected by the coastline boundary, while they form rotaing flow in the Yangtze Estuary.