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20-day in-situ ADCP current and CTD data are used to investigate the characteristics and energy of the internal tides in the northern South China Sea (NSCS). The results show that the O1, K1, M2 and S2 constituents of internal tides are energetic and diurnal constituents (O1 and K1) are dominating. In the observational period, the current vectors of these four constituents all rotate clockwise and the maximum semi-major axe of internal tidal ellipses is more than 14 cm/s. The variation of ocean temperature shows that the internal tides present obvious quasi-diurnal oscillation and the average amplitude reaches 50 m. Furthermore, these internal tides carry high energy and appear to be intermittent. The maximum values of KE (PE) during the observational period are up to 2 (3.5) kJ/m2 for diurnal internal tides, and up to 1 (1.5) kJ/m2 for semidiurnal internal tides. Published