Numerical Modeling of Tidal Phenomena of Penzhina Bay

Abstract

In this study, the Delft3D-Flow hydrodynamic model was used to determine the characteristics of the main tidal waves and currents in Penzhina Bay (Sea of Okhotsk, Russia). The initial and boundary conditions are set according to the TPXO9 model data, and the salinity and water temperature for each model layer are set based on reanalysis data of the HYCOM ocean general circulation model, with a time step of 3 h. The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA-5 reanalysis was used as meteoforcing. Modeling was performed for the ice-free period from May to September 2005. Maps of cotidal lines, tidal ellipses, and reversibility coefficients for the main tidal waves were constructed: semidiurnal wave M2 and diurnal wave K1. The model was verified by comparing the published and calculated harmonic components for nine sea level monitoring points located in Penzhina Bay. Conformance evaluation generally shows a high degree of consistency between the model and reference data. The values of the determination coefficient R² between the series formed by the model and published harmonic components range from 0.96 to 0.99. According to the magnitude of relative errors, the modeling results are divided into two consistency categories: high (1.48–2.14%) and satisfactory (2.93–4.27%). Spatial distribution patterns for the values of relative errors were not found. A certain inconsistency in the results is presumably due to the time discretization of the observation time support and the short sea level monitoring data series used to calculate the published harmonic components for Penzhina Bay.