The Strength of the M[sub2] Tide at the Chesapeake Bay Mouth.

ABSTRACT As part of the Naval Research Laboratory and Office of Naval Research sponsored Physics of Coastal Remote Sensing Research Program, an experiment was conducted in September-October 1996 off Virginia Beach. Ocean surface currents were measured using the high-frequency (25.4 MHz) mode of the Ocean Surface Current Radar at 20-min intervals at a horizontal resolution of 1 km over an approximate 30 km x 44 km domain. Comparisons to subsurface current measurements at 1-2 m beneath the surface from two broadband acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) revealed good agreement to the surface currents. Regression analyses indicated biases of 4 and -3 cms s[sup-1] for cross-shelf and along-shelf currents, respectively, where slopes were theta(1) with correlation coefficients of 0.8. Nine months of sea level heights from the NOAA National Ocean Survey Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel tidal station revealed an energetic M[sub 2] tidal component having an amplitude of 37.5 cm and a phase of 357 degrees. The S[sub 2] tidal constituent had an amplitude of 7 cm and a phase of 49 degrees. By contrast, the diurnal band (K[sub 1], O[sub 1]) tidal constituents were considerably weaker with amplitudes of 1-5 cm. From 19 days of HF-derived surface... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]