A practical scheme to introduce explicit tidal forcing into OGCM.

A practical scheme is proposed to introduce tides explicitly into ocean general circulation models (OGCM). In this scheme, barotropic linear response to the tidal forcing is calculated by the time differential equations modified for ocean tides, instead of the original barotropic equations of OGCM. This allows usage of various parameterizations specified for tides, such as the self attraction/loading (SAL) effect and energy dissipation due to internal tides, without unintentional violation of the original dynamical balances in OGCM. Meanwhile, secondary nonlinear effects of tides, e.g. excitation of internal tides and advection by tidal currents, are fully represented in the framework of the original OGCM equations. That is, this scheme drives OGCM by the barotropic linear tidal currents which are predicted progressively by a well-tuned tide model, instead of the equilibrium tide potential, without large additional numerical costs. We incorporated this scheme into Meteorological Research Institute Community Ocean Model and executed test experiments with a low-resolution global model. The results showed that the model can simulate both of non-tidal circulations and tidal motion simultaneously. Owing to usage of tidal parameterizations such as a SAL term, a root mean square error in the tidal heights was as small as 10.0 cm, which is comparable to tide models tuned elaborately. In addition, analysis of speed and energy of the barotropic tidal currents was consistent with past tide studies. The model also showed active excitement of internal tides and tidal mixing. Their impacts should be examined using a model with a finer resolution in future, since explicit and precise introduction of tides into OGCM is a significant step toward upgrade of ocean modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]