Global Ocean Tides. Part III. The Semidiurnal Principal Solar Tide (S2), Atlas of Tidal Charts and Maps.

Abstract : In Part I of this report (AD-A060 913), a unique hydrodynamical interpolation technique was introduced, extensively tested, and evaluated in order to compute partial global ocean tides in great detail and with a high degree of accuracy. This novel method has been applied to construct the semidiurnal principal solar (S2) ocean tide with a relative accuracy of better than 5 cm anywhere in the open oceans. The resulting tidal amplitudes and phases are tabulated on a 1 deg x 1 deg grid system in an atlas of 42 deg x 71 deg overlapping charts covering the whole oceanic globe. A corresponding atlas of global corange and cotidal maps is included to provide the reader with a quick general overview of the major tidal phenomena. The specifying hydrodynamical parameters of the model are listed along with quoted sources of empirical tide data, and significant tidal features are explained and discussed. The S2 ocean tide is found to resemble closely the corresponding lunar M2 tide presented in Part II of this report (AD-A084 694).