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Tidal mixing fronts, which represent boundaries between stratified and tidally mixed waters, are locations of enhanced biological activity. They occur in summer shelf seas when, in the presence of strong tidal currents, mixing due to bottom friction balances buoyancy production due to seasonal heat flux. In this paper we examine the occurrence and fidelity of tidal mixing fronts in shelf seas generated within a global 3-dimensional simulation of the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) that is simultaneously forced by atmospheric fields and the astronomical tidal potential. We perform a first order assessment of shelf sea tides in global HYCOM through comparison of sea surface temperature, sea surface tidal elevations, and tidal currents with observations. HYCOM was tuned to minimize errors in M 2 sea surface heights in deep water. Over the global coastal and shelf seas (depths <200 m) the area-weighted root mean square error of the M 2 sea surface amplitude in HYCOM represents 35% of the 50 cm root mean squared M 2 sea surface amplitude when compared to satellite constrained models TPXO8 and FES2014. HYCOM and the altimeter constrained tidal models TPXO8 and FES2014 exhibit similar skill in reproducing barotropic tidal currents estimated from in-situ current meter observations. Through comparison of a global HYCOM simulation with tidal forcing to a global HYCOM simulation with no tides, and also to previous regional studies of tidal mixing fronts in shelf seas, we demonstrate that HYCOM with embedded tides exhibits quite high skill in reproducing known tidal mixing fronts in shelf seas. Our results indicate that the amount of variability in the location of the tidal mixing fronts in HYCOM, estimated using the Simpson-Hunter parameter, is consistent with previous studies when the differences in the net downward heat flux, on a global scale, are taken into account. We also provide evidence of tidal mixing fronts on the North West Australian Shelf for which we have been unable to find references in the existing scientific literature. • We perform a first order assessment of the skill of HYCOM tides in the coastal and shelf seas. • RMSE for tidal heights represents 23–35% of the RMS amplitude in the coastal and shelf seas of global HYCOM. • Inclusion of tides in global HYCOM has a visible impact on SST in coastal and shelf seas. • HYCOM with embedded tides reproduces known seasonal tidal mixing fronts in their expected location. • We provide evidence for the existence of tidal mixing fronts on the North West Australian Shelf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global models of seafloor topography have incomplete and inconsistent resolution at horizontal wavelengths less than about 10-20 km, notably due to their inability to resolve abyssal hills in areas unsurveyed by ships (that is, about 90% of the global seafloor). We investigated the impact of this unresolved bottom roughness on global numerical simulations of the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) that are forced exclusively by the M2 and K1 internal tides. Simulations were run with horizontal resolutions of 0.08° and 0.04°, 10 isopycnal layers in the vertical direction, and two versions of bathymetry: one derived from the SRTM30_PLUS global bathymetry model, and one merging SRTM30_PLUS with a synthetic fractal surface simulating the expected roughness of abyssal hills in the 2-10 km horizontal wavelength band. Power spectra of the two bathymetry versions diverge at wavenumbers of order 4*10-4 radians/m and higher (wavelengths of order 15 km and lower), with more pronounced differences evident on the 0.04° grid, as the 0.08° grid has a more limited ability to capture bathymetric details at the abyssal hill scale. Our simulations show an increase in the amount of kinetic and potential energy in higher vertical modes, especially in the 0.04° simulation, when the synthetic roughness is added. Adding abyssal hills to the 0.04° simulation increases the M2 kinetic energy for modes 3 and 4 by 12-18% and the potential energy by 5 - 15%. Adding abyssal hills to the 0.08° simulation yields a reduced, though still measurable, impact on simulated baroclinic tidal energies. Baroclinic tidal energy conversion rates increase by up to 16% in regions of high roughness, and by up to 3.4% in the global integral. The 3.4% increase in global conversion rates in the numerical simulations is less than the 10% increase computed from a linear analysis on a 0.008° grid because of the resolution limitations of the numerical simulations. The results obtained in the present study, though limited by the horizontal and vertical resolutions of the simulations, are consistent with those of previous studies indicating that abyssal hills on the seafloor transfer energy into higher vertical mode internal tides. The method employed here to add synthetic roughness could easily be replicated in other models, with higher resolution and/or more complex forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of topographic internal lee wave drag (wave drag hereafter) on several aspects of the low-frequency circulation in a high-resolution global ocean model forced by winds and air-sea buoyancy fluxes is examined here. The HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) is run at two different horizontal resolutions (one nominally 1/12° and the other 1/25°). Wave drag, which parameterizes both topographic blocking and the generation of lee waves arising from geostrophic flow impinging upon rough topography, is inserted into the simulations as they run. The parameterization used here affects the momentum equations and hence the structure of eddy kinetic energy. Lee waves also have implications for diapycnal mixing in the ocean, though the parameterization does not directly modify the density. Total near-bottom energy dissipation due to wave drag and quadratic bottom boundary layer drag is nearly doubled, and the energy dissipation due to quadratic bottom drag is reduced by about a factor of two, in simulations with an inserted wave drag compared to simulations having only quadratic bottom drag. With the insertion of wave drag, the kinetic energy is reduced in the abyss and in a three-dimensional global integral. Deflection by partial topographic blocking is inferred to be one reason why the near-bottom kinetic energy can increase in locations where there is little change in dissipation by quadratic bottom drag. Despite large changes seen in the abyss, the changes that occur near the sea surface are relatively small upon insertion of wave drag into the simulations. Both the sea surface height variance and geostrophic surface kinetic energy are reduced on global average by more than twice the seasonal variability in these diagnostics. Alterations in the intensified jet positions brought about by inserting wave drag are not distinguishable from the temporal variability of jet positions. Various statistical measures suggest that applying wave drag only within a fixed distance from the seafloor is not detrimental to the model performance relative to observations. However, the introduction of a novel diagnostic suggests that one way to improve the wave drag parameterization is to allow the vertical deposition of lee wave momentum flux to be spatially heterogeneous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We review global ocean models with simultaneous tidal and atmospheric forcing. • Tidal interactions with other earth system components can be studied in such models. • Global internal wave models are used to plan field and satellite missions. • Global internal wave models are used in operational oceanography. • Global internal wave models are used to provide boundary forcing for regional models. Until recently, high-resolution global modeling of tides has been done separately from high-resolution global modeling of the atmospherically-forced oceanic general circulation. Here we review the emerging class of high-resolution global models that are simultaneously forced by both atmospheric fields and the astronomical tidal potential. Such models simulate barotropic (surface) tides, internal tides, near-inertial motions, the eddying general oceanic circulation, and a partially resolved internal gravity wave (IGW) continuum spectrum (Garrett-Munk spectrum) simultaneously. We review the technical aspects of such global models and their myriad applications, for example, in satellite oceanography, operational oceanography, boundary forcing of regional models, tidal-cryosphere interactions, and assessment of future coastal flooding hazards in a changing climate with altered tides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Approximately balanced mechanical energy budget with wave drag is presented. [•] Previous wave drag estimates ignored feedbacks, and thus, were too large. [•] Lee waves may be generated in both abyssal and non-abyssal hill regions. [•] Adding wave drag mostly reduces energy dissipation by bottom drag. [•] But bottom drag cannot merely be boosted to mimic wave drag. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The resonances of tides in the coupled open ocean and shelf are modeled by a mechanical analogue consisting of a damped driven larger mass and spring (the open-ocean) connected to a damped smaller mass and spring (the shelf). When both masses are near resonance, the addition of even a very small mass can significantly affect the oscillations of the larger mass. The influence of the shelf is largest if the shelf is resonant with weak friction. In particular, an increase of friction on a near-resonant shelf can, perhaps surprisingly, lead to an increase in ocean tides. On the other hand, a shelf with large friction has little effect on ocean tides. Comparison of the model predictions with results from numerical models of tides during the ice ages, when lower sea levels led to a much reduced areal extent of shelves, suggests that the predicted larger tidal dissipation then is related to the ocean basins being close to resonance. New numerical simulations with a forward global tide model are used to test expectations from the mechanical analogue. Setting friction to unrealistically large values in Hudson Strait yields larger North Atlantic amplitudes, very similar to those seen in a simulation with the Hudson Strait blocked off. Thus, as anticipated, a shelf with very large friction is nearly equivalent in its effect on the open ocean to the removal of the shelf altogether. Setting friction in shallow waters throughout the globe to unrealistically large values yields even larger open ocean tidal amplitudes, similar to those found in simulations of ice-age tides. It thus appears that larger modeled tides during the ice ages can be a consequence of enhanced friction in shallower water on the shelf in glacial times as well as a reduced shelf area then. Single oscillator and coupled oscillator models for global tides show that the maximum extractable power for human use is a fraction of the present dissipation rate, which is itself a fraction of global human power consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a five-year global simulation of HYCOM, the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model, that simultaneously resolves the eddying general circulation, barotropic tides, and baroclinic tides with 32 layers in the vertical direction and 1/12.5° (equatorial) horizontal grid spacing. A parameterized topographic wave drag is inserted into the model and tuned so that the surface tidal elevations are of comparable accuracy to those in optimally tuned forward tide models used in previous studies. The model captures 93% of the open-ocean sea-surface height variance of the eight largest tidal constituents, as recorded by a standard set of 102 pelagic tide gauges spread around the World Ocean. In order to minimize the impact of the wave drag on non-tidal motions, the model utilizes a running 25-h average to approximately separate tidal and non-tidal components of the near-bottom flow. In contrast to earlier high-resolution global baroclinic tide simulations, which utilized tidal forcing only, the simulation presented here has a horizontally non-uniform stratification, supported by the wind- and buoyancy forcing. The horizontally varying stratification affects the baroclinic tides in high latitudes to first order. The magnitude of the internal tide perturbations to sea surface elevation amplitude and phase in a large box surrounding Hawai’i is quite similar to that observed in satellite altimeter data, although the exact locations of peaks and troughs in the modeled perturbations differ from those in the observed perturbations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We compare the total kinetic energy (TKE) in four global eddying ocean circulation simulations with a global dataset of over 5000, quality controlled, moored current meter records. At individual mooring sites, there was considerable scatter between models and observations that was greater than estimated statistical uncertainty. Averaging over all current meter records in various depth ranges, all four models had mean TKE within a factor of two of observations above 3500m, and within a factor of three below 3500m. With the exception of observations between 20 and 100m, the models tended to straddle the observations. However, individual models had clear biases. The free running (no data assimilation) model biases were largest below 2000m. Idealized simulations revealed that the parameterized bottom boundary layer tidal currents were not likely the source of the problem, but that reducing quadratic bottom drag coefficient may improve the fit with deep observations. Data assimilation clearly improved the model-observation comparison, especially below 2000m, despite assimilated data existing mostly above this depth and only south of 47°N. Different diagnostics revealed different aspects of the comparison, though in general the models appeared to be in an eddying-regime with TKE that compared reasonably well with observations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Abyssal hills are the dominant small-scale roughness fabric over much of the ocean floor. Created at mid-ocean ridges by combined volcanic and tectonic processes, they are rafted away by plate spreading and modified through time by mass wasting and sedimentation. Abyssal hills are morphological indicators of spreading rate and direction: they are lineated parallel to the ridge at the time of formation, and their heights and widths are inversely correlated to spreading rate. Knowledge of abyssal hill roughness statistics is important for high-resolution models, including models of internal wave generation and mixing driven by tidal and low-frequency flows over the rough bottom. In this paper we present a prediction of abyssal hill roughness statistical parameters world-wide via relationships for the average statistical properties of abyssal hills as a function of spreading rate and direction, and for the modification to these roughness parameters as a function of sediment thickness. These relationships are constrained by new publicly-available digital maps of paleo-spreading rate and direction, and sediment thickness. We also develop a new method for generating synthetic topography with variable statistical properties over a grid, and present an example of synthetic abyssal hill roughness generated for the North Atlantic on a 1/2-min grid. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Global, high-quality, satellite-based observation of oceanic currents over the past 13 years has revealed ubiquitous quasi-horizontal eddies in the mesoscale (tens to hundreds of kilometers), confirming the view of a highly turbulent ocean suggested by observational programs in the 1970s. Idealized quasigeostrophic turbulence models suggest mesoscale turbulent flow can vary between isotropic, and highly anisotropic zonal jets. Here we compare the zonal and meridional velocity variance from satellite altimetry. We find that, for an unexplained reason and despite the chaotic nature of turbulence, the surface flow is organized into mesoscale patches where either zonal or meridional velocity variance dominates. The patches persist over 13 years, much longer than the turbulent timescale of a few months. Implications include potentially highly anisotropic redistribution of tracers by the mesoscale flow. Zonally averaged velocity variances reveal a slight preference for meridional over zonal velocity variance. Realistic primitive equation models succeed in reproducing both the patchy structure in local preference for either zonal or meridional velocity variance, and the zonally averaged preference for meridional variance. Idealized models of fully developed, quasigeostrophic turbulence fail in both regards. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the accuracy of surface elevations in a forward global numerical model of 10 tidal constituents. Both one-layer and two-layer simulations are performed. As far as the authors are aware, the two-layer simulations and the simulations in a companion paper (Deep-Sea Research II, 51 (2004) 3043) represent the first published global numerical solutions for baroclinic tides. Self-consistent forward solutions for the global tide are achieved with a convergent iteration procedure for the self-attraction and loading term. Energies are too large, and elevation accuracies are poor, unless substantial abyssal drag is present. Reasonably accurate tidal elevations can be obtained with a spatially uniform bulk drag or horizontal viscosity , but only if these are inordinately large. More plausible schemes concentrate drag over rough topography. The topographic drag scheme used here is based on an exact analytical solution for arbitrary small-amplitude terrain, and supplemented by dimensional analysis to account for drag due to flow-splitting and low-level turbulence as well as that due to breaking of radiating waves. The scheme is augmented by a multiplicative factor tuned to minimize elevation discrepancies with respect to the TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P)-constrained GOT99.2 model. The multiplicative factor may account for undersampled small spatial scales in bathymetric datasets. An optimally tuned multi-constituent one-layer simulation has an RMS elevation discrepancy of 9.54cm with respect to GOT99.2, in waters deeper than 1000m and over latitudes covered by T/P (66N to 66S). The surface elevation discrepancy decreases to 8.90cm (92 percent of the height variance captured) in the optimally tuned two-layer solution. The improvement in accuracy is not due to the direct surface elevation signature of internal tides, which is of small amplitude, but to a shift in the barotropic tide induced by baroclinicity. Elevations are also more accurate in the two-layer model when pelagic tide gauges are used as the benchmark, and when the T/P-constrained TPXO6.2 model is used as a benchmark in deep waters south of 66S. For Antarctic diurnal tides, the improvement in forward model elevation accuracy with baroclinicity is substantial. The optimal multiplicative factor in the two-layer case is nearly the same as in the one-layer case, against initial expectations that the explicit resolution of low-mode conversion would allow less parameterized drag. In the optimally tuned two-layer solution, local values of the ratio of temporally averaged squared upper layer speed to squared lower layer speed often exceed 10. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The energy flux out of barotropic tides and into internal waves (“conversion”) is computed using a global domain multi-layer numerical model. The solution is highly baroclinic and reveals a global field of internal waves radiating way from generation sites of rough topography. A small number of sites where intense internal wave generation occurs accounts for most of the globally integrated work done on the barotropic tide and dominates sites such as the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The globally integrated conversion of the barotropic tide is 891 Gigawatts and the globally integrated rate of working of the ocean by astronomical forcing is 2.94 Terawatts. Both of these estimates are close to accepted values derived from independent methods. Regional estimates of conversion are also similar to previous inferences, lending additional confidence that the solution has captured the essential physics of low-mode internal wave generation and that numerical prediction of conversion has skill in regions where no previous estimates are available. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Data assimilation (DA) combines observational data and the dynamical ocean model to forecast the ocean state in a matter that is not possible from either observations or models by themselves. However, the incorporation of data-derived corrections into the model introduces the potential to disrupt the dynamical balance of the model state, leading to initialization shocks. These shocks arise as the model undergoes a process of adjustment to restore the perturbed dynamic balance, involving the generation of spurious near-inertial motions. Notably, the US Navy's global ocean forecast system strives to mitigate these issues through the implementation of the Incremental Analysis Update (IAU) method, distributing the DA corrections to the model state across a specified time window (3 h in the operational system). Our study shows that, despite the implementation of this 3 h IAU period, the initialization shocks still persist in the model analysis fields. We find that during DA updates, spurious internal waves are generated that are in a broad near-inertial frequency range and propagate long distances from their generation sites in the form of low-mode near-inertial waves. The depth-integrated, time-mean near-inertial kinetic energy in a simulation with DA is 68% higher than in a corresponding forward simulation (free-run, without DA) of the simulation with the same surface wind forcing. The presence of these spurious near-inertial waves disrupts the ocean model energetics, and minimizing them is crucial for using the assimilative model simulations to study small scale/high-frequency ocean dynamics. We also examine a possible way to minimize the spurious internal waves by extending the IAU period in numerical experiments using regional model simulations. We demonstrate that the generation of spurious near-inertial waves can be minimized if we insert increments of smaller magnitude at each time step during the update, which can be achieved by extending the IAU period. Our findings indicate that in simulations with a 24 h IAU period, the variance of near-inertial kinetic energy between the assimilative and forward simulations is reduced to approximately 1%. • US Navy's operational ocean model has spurious near-inertial waves. • Spurious waves are generated during data assimilation due to model adjustment. • Spurious waves propagate long horizontal distances as low vertical modes. • Spurious waves can be avoided by using longer Incremental Analysis Update periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In global ocean simulations, forward (non-data-assimilative) tide models generally feature large sea-surface-height errors near Hudson Strait in the North Atlantic Ocean with respect to altimetry-constrained tidal solutions. These errors may be associated with tidal resonances that are not well resolved by the complex coastal-shelf bathymetry in low-resolution simulations. An online two-way nesting framework has been implemented to improve global surface tides in the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). In this framework, a high-resolution child domain, covering Hudson Strait, is coupled with a relatively low-resolution parent domain for computational efficiency. Data such as barotropic pressure and velocity are exchanged between the child and parent domains with the external coupler OASIS3-MCT. The developed nesting framework is validated with semi-idealized basin-scale model simulations. The M 2 sea-surface heights show very good accuracy in the one-way and two-way nesting simulations in Hudson Strait, where large tidal elevations are observed. In addition, the mass and tidal energy flux are not adversely impacted at the nesting boundaries in the semi-idealized simulations. In a next step, the nesting framework is applied to a realistic global tide simulation. In this simulation, the resolution of the child domain (1/75°) is three times as fine as that of the parent domain (1/25°). The M 2 sea-surface-height root-mean-square errors with tide gauge data and the altimetry-constrained global FES2014 and TPXO9-atlas tidal solutions are evaluated for the nesting and no-nesting solutions. The better resolved coastal bathymetry and the finer grid in the child domain improve the local tides in Hudson Strait and Bay, and the back-effect of the coastal tides induces an improvement of the barotropic tides in the open ocean of the Atlantic. • A two-way nesting framework has been developed to improve surface tidal accuracy in a global ocean model (HYCOM). • Data are exchanged between a parent and a child domain with an external coupler (OASIS3-MCT). • The developed nesting framework is validated with semi-idealized experiments and applied to a realistic global case. • The two-way nesting results are compared to tide gauge data, and the FES2014 and TPXO9-atals tidal solutions. • The open-ocean surface tide (1/25°) is improved through two-way nesting with the 1/75° coastal-shelf domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self attraction and earth-loading effects are important for accurately modeling global tides. A common approach of handling this forcing is to expand mass anomalies into spherical harmonics, which are scaled by load Love numbers to account for elastic earth deformation. We investigate two different approaches to perform these calculations for ocean models that employ unstructured meshes and distributed memory parallelization. The first approach leverages a highly efficient spherical harmonics library, but requires all-to-one and one-to-all communications and interpolation operations between the unstructured and a structured mesh. This approach is compared to a parallel algorithm that computes the spherical harmonic transformations directly on the unstructured mesh with an all-reduce communication. Our results show that although the unstructured mesh calculations are more expensive, the scalability of the unstructured mesh approach allows for more efficient spherical harmonics transforms for high-resolution meshes and large processor counts. This methodology enables the efficient inclusion of tidal dynamics large-scale Earth system model simulations. • Self attraction and loading (SAL) is necessary accurately simulate tides. • Computing "in-line" SAL requires spherical harmonic transformations (SHTs). • SHTs are most often computed on structured as opposed to unstructured meshes. • A parallel algorithm is developed to compute SAL for unstructured ocean models. • This approach is scalable and facilitates SAL calculations with minimal cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low mode internal waves are able to propagate across ocean basins and modulate ocean dynamics thousands of kilometers away from their generation sites. In this study, the impact of remotely generated internal waves on the internal wave energetics near the U.S. West Coast is investigated with realistically forced regional ocean simulations. At the open boundaries, we impose high-frequency oceanic state variables obtained from a global ocean simulation with realistic atmospheric and astronomical tidal forcing. We use the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) technique in separating ingoing and outgoing internal tide energy fluxes at the open boundaries in order to quantify internal tide reflections. Although internal tide reflections are reduced with increasing sponge viscosity and/or sponge layer width, reflection coefficients (λ) can be as high as 73%. In the presence of remote internal waves, the model variance and spatial correlations become more in agreement with both mooring and altimetry datasets. The results confirm that an improved internal wave continuum can be achieved in regional models with remote internal wave forcing at the open boundaries. However, care should be taken to avoid excessive reflections of internal waves from the interior at these boundaries. • Remotely generated near-inertial waves and semidiurnal internal tides are equally important near the U.S. West Coast. • External barotropic tidal information are well assimilated with Flather open boundary conditions. • Orlanski open boundary conditions cause more internal tide reflections than Specified open boundary conditions. • Sponge layers are necessary when prescribing remotely generated internal waves at the open boundaries. • Model-data comparisons in the regional model domain improve with remote internal wave forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ocean tidal velocity and elevation can be estimated concurrently with the ocean circulation by adding the astronomical tidal forcing, parameterized topographic internal wave drag, and self-attraction and loading to the general circulation physics. However, the accuracy of these tidal estimates does not yet match accuracies in the best data-assimilative barotropic tidal models. This paper investigates the application of an augmented state ensemble Kalman Filter (ASEnKF) to improve the accuracy of M 2 barotropic tides embedded in a 1/12.5° three-dimensional ocean general circulation model. The ASEnKF is an alternative to the techniques typically used with linearized tide-only models; such techniques cannot be applied to the embedded tides in a nonlinear eddying circulation. An extra term, meant to correct for errors in the tide model due to imperfectly known topography and damping terms, is introduced into the tidal forcing. Ensembles of the model are created with stochastically generated forcing correction terms. The discrepancies for each ensemble member with TPXO, an existing data-assimilative tide model, are computed. The ASEnKF method yields an optimal estimate of the model forcing correction terms, that minimizes resultant root mean square (RMS) tidal sea surface elevation error with respect to TPXO, as well as an estimate of the tidal elevation. The deep-water, global area-averaged RMS sea surface elevation error of the principal lunar semidiurnal tide M 2 is reduced from 4.4 cm in a best-case non-assimilative solution to 2.6 cm. The largest elevation errors in both the non-assimilative and ASEnKF solutions are in the North Atlantic, a highly resonant basin. Possible pathways for achieving further reductions in the RMS error are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of horizontal resolution and wave drag damping on the semidiurnal M 2 tidal energetics are studied for two realistically-forced global HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) simulations with 41 layers and horizontal resolutions of 8 km (1 ∕ 12. 5 ∘ ; H12) and 4 km (1 ∕ 25 ∘ ; H25). In both simulations, the surface tidal error is minimized by tuning the strength of the linear wave drag, which is a parameterization of the surface-tide energy conversion to the unresolved baroclinic wave modes. In both simulations the M 2 surface tide error with TPXO8-atlas, an altimetry constrained model, is 2.6 cm. Compared to H12, the surface tide energy conversion to the resolved vertical modes is increased by 50% in H25. This coincides with an equivalent reduction in the tuned loss of energy from the surface tide to the wave drag. For the configurations studied here, the horizontal and not the vertical resolution is the factor limiting the number of vertical modes that are resolved in most of the global ocean: modes 1–2 in H12 and modes 1–5 in H25. The wave drag also dampens the resolved internal tides. The 40% reduction in wave-drag strength does not result in a proportional increase in the mode-1 energy density in H25. In the higher-resolution simulations, topographic mode-scattering and wave–wave interactions are better resolved. This allows for an energy flux out of mode 1 to the higher modes, mitigating the need for an internal tide damping term. The HYCOM simulations are validated with analytical conversion models and altimetry-inferred sea-surface height, fluxes, and surface tide dissipation. H25 agrees best with these data sets to within ∼ 10%. To facilitate the comparison of stationary tide signals extracted from time series with different durations, we successfully apply a spatially-varying correction factor. • The doubling of the horizontal resolution doubles the number of resolved vertical modes. • The increased resolution both affects surface and internal tide damping. • Higher-resolution simulations need less parameterized internal-tide damping. • The higher-resolution simulation agrees with validation data sets to within ∼ 10%. • A correction factor is applied to allow for the comparison of stationary tide signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]