Tidal analysis
This
is an essential component of studies of coastal flow patterns, surge
tides and astronomical tides. Signals (usually elevation or current
meter data) are analysed to give harmonic components and predictions
(in the case of current meter data this may take the form of tidal
ellipses).
Non tidal signals can then be separated from the raw
data. For elevation data these may take the form of surge elevations
or river inputs. Lag analysis can be performed to separate phase and
elevation effects. For current meter data, residual flows can arise
from a variety of sources, e.g. density flows, coastal flows,
topographically driven flow, wind driven flow, etc.
Tidal software
includes T_tide and Utide, and also in house analysis routines.
Non
tidal analysis
Residual flows are usually extracted after
suitable tidal analysis and can occur at a large range of
frequencies. For example, density flows may have a seasonal
character, surges occur over periods of about a day or two, but there
are also shorter term flows. Short term flows of periods of the order
1 hr can be caused by wake shedding from islands, seiching, etc. At
very short timescales, waves and turbulence may be distinguished in
adcp signals, given sufficiently fast sampling times. Structure
function and correlation analysis of turbulent signals can be carried
out.
Residual flow is important
in dispersion of tracers and pollutants, while non tidal flows (e.g.
island wakes) may form a significant component of the resource at a
tidal site. this case, statistical properties of such flows can be
calculated from models or observations.
Possible work
includes:
-tidal analysis of elevation or current data
-tidal
prediction
-calculation of residuals
-relation of residuals to
forcing, e.g. wind, river flow, heating, etc.
-extraction of wave
and turbulence parameters from adcp data