Study on Characteristics of Internal Tide in an Ocean Engineering Area of the Northern South China Sea

Characteristics of internal tide were analyzed based on the data recorded by a submerged buoy system in an ocean engineering area of the northern South China Sea during April to October, 2012. It was found that the maximum amplitude of the internal tide was less than 20 m around the area. In vertical, the internal tide was more obvious in upper middle layers, and their major part was strong diurnal internal tide and weak semidiurnal internal tide. Major baroclinic currents were clockwise diurnal tidal current, and the elliptic major axis was north-south mainly. The tidal current ellipses were decreased gradually with the depth increasing firstly, and reached the minimum around 120-140 m, then increased gradually with the depth increasing. In addition, Dongsha Current was proved in this sea field, which average velocity was 14.3 cm/s, and average direction was 237.6°. © 2019, Editorial Office of Ship Building of China. All right reserved.