DINAMIKA EKOSISTEM LAUT

TIDES, TIDAL MIXING, AND

INTERNAL WAVES
KELOMPOK 6 :
Saferi Dhika Saktiya
155080200111001
Gracehelda v.g. ansanay 155080200111015
Gia Gina Hardian Putri
155080201111073
Wiwin Setyowati
155080200111043

7.1 Introduction
Tides are created by the gravitational pull of the moon and
the sun and are most familiar as a rise and fall in the level of
the sea twice a day. In situations where tidal mixing is less
strong and the water column becomes stratified, the
interaction of the tidal currents with the bottom topography
may lead to the formation of internal waves on the
thermocline at the tidal period. These waves propagate
shoreward and decay causing vertical mixing and the
redistribution of nutrients, with important effects on
phytoplankton production, distribution of zooplankton and
larval fishes.
SAFERI

7.2 THE PHYSICS OF TIDES

7.2.1 Tide-generating forces and the
equilibrium tide
Tides in the ocean result from a slight imbalance between
two forces: the first is the gravitational pull of the moon and
sun, and the second is the centripetal force that is required to
keep the oceans water moving along with the rest of the earth
in a circular path through space.

SAFERI

Fig. 7.01 The earth and moon viewed from above

the north pole showing the ocean (shaded) pulled by
the moons gravity into a tidal bulge under the moon.
An observer is at O on the equator
SAFERI

The moons gravitational pull on the earth decreases

with distance from the moon. Particles on the side
closest to the moon experience a greater gravitational
pull than do particles on the side away from the moon.
The average gravitational pull on particles in the earth
is found at the center of the earth and must equal the
required centripetal force, but the forces are
imbalanced for all other points
SAFERI

Because the moon's distance is very far, the

gravitational attraction on a particle of water on the
earth due to the sun is about one-half that due to the
moon. The important effect of the tide due to the sun
arises because its tidal bulge moves relative to the
moons tidal bulge throughout the lunar month. When
the two tidal bulges coincide they add together to
create the extra high tides called the spring tides.
When the tidal bulges are opposed their effects tend to
cancel one another, creating the neap tides.
SAFERI

7.2.2 Tides in the real ocean

The equilibrium tide helps us to understand some of the
main principles of tides, but when it comes to predicting
the tide in the real ocean this theory is of little help
because the water that is raised up as the tidal bulge has
to move around a world that is spinning on its axis and
that is cluttered with continents.
This calculation is normally done by measuring the
height of the tide for at least a month, then decomposing
the record into sinusoidal constituents. There are three
main categories of constituents (Pond and Pickard 1983):
(i) semi-diurnal, period about 12 hours; (ii) diurnal, period
about 24 hours; and (iii) long period, greater than 24
hours.
SAFERI

The form of the tide, or the

pattern of the waters rise and fall,
is not the same at all locations
around the oceans but varies
according to the relative importance
of the different constituents. The
four main classifications of the form
of the tides are illustrated in Fig.
7.05.
Fig. 7.05 Tidal records through March
1936 at four coastal stations
illustrating variations in the
amplitudes of the semi-diurnal (M2 +
S2) and diurnal constituents (K1 +
O1). Adapted from Defant (1958).
SAFERI

7.2.3 Moving the tidal bulge over the earth: Kelvin

waves
The other kind of wave, the deep water wave, is the one
normally seen generated by the wind on the oceans surface.
One important feature of shallow-water waves that sets them
apart from the deep-water waves is that the velocity of the
wave motion is constant throughout the depth of water while
the motion in the wind waves dies out a few meters below the
surface. Thus the velocity in the tidal wave is approximately
constant throughout the depth of the ocean. Such flow is
sometimes referred to as a barotropic wave more
specifically a barotropic Kelvin wave.
SAFERI

Because the tidal waves cause the water to move

relative to the earth for a long time the Coriolis force is an
important feature of the motion. The effect of the Coriolis
force is to push the water to the right in the northern
hemisphere. Figure 7.06 shows a Kelvin wave traveling
south, with the coast to the west of it. The Coriolis effect
causes the amplitude of the wave to increase toward the
shore and leads to the expression that the wave is trapped
against the shore. Such a trapped Kelvin wave causes the
water particles to move back and forth parallel to the coast
as the wave goes by.
SAFERI

7.2.4 Tidal Current

In the deep ocean the vertical range of the tide, is
only a few centimeters and tidal currents tend to be
only a few centimeters per second. Over the
continental shelves, however, the currents can be in
the meters per second range as they are associated
with much higher tidal amplitudes.

SAFERI

The direction of tidal currents varies greatly and

depends on the way in which the tidal wave
propagates in the local area. Along a straight coast or
in a confined channel the currents tend to be parallel
to the shore. In open areas the tidal wave is not
constrained to be rectilinear, and currents in general
will have both northsouth (v) and eastwest (u)
components.
SAFERI

7.2.5 Internal waves

Tidal currents often cause internal waves to be generated on the

pycnocline.
When the pycno-cline is displaced vertically a restoring force is
generated that pushes the pycnocline back toward its undisturbed
position.
This force leads to the possibil-ity of a vertical oscillation and of
waves being propagated on the interface. Some features of such a
wave on a sharp density interface are illustrated in Fig. 7.08.
Interesting biological consequences of the internal wave motion are
created by regions of convergent and divergent flow in the upper
layer.
Above the pycno-cline the thickness of the upper layer clearly
varies along the length of the wave.
WIWIN

Pig. 7.08
The interface in the figure has been placed close enough to
the sea surface so that some effects of the internal wave
motions are felt at the surface. The lower layer is assumed
to be infinitely deep. The wave is propagating from left to
right

WIWIN

On the sea surface the convergent zones cause

floating organic matter to accumulate in bands that are
ahead of, but parallel to, the wave crests.
Below the pycnocline the particle trajectories (Fig.
7.08b) due to the internal wave are opposite in direction
to those above the interface.
In addition, the regions of divergence and
convergence below the interface are displaced by onehalf of a wave length from the ones above the interface.
WIWIN

7.2.6 Generating internal interface waves

The observed lee waves are the interface waves that are selected by
the speed of the stream. These lee waves are usually associated with
steady flows, but often tidal flows generate such waves on the lee side of
shallow ridges. When the tidal stream slows down, the waves continue to
exist but move away from the obstacle through the more slowly moving
water.
WIWIN

7.3. TIDAL MIXING IN THE WATER COLUMN

Tidally driven vertical mixing changes the seasonal

pat-tern of phytoplankton production. There is also
evidence that tidally mixed areas are favored as
spawning grounds by herring.

WIWIN

7.3.1 Tidal mixing and plankton

production
If tidal currents are strong enough to mix the water column all year, there is
a continuous supply of nutrients from near-bottom waters up to the euphotic
zone, which permits phytoplankton production to continue at a good level
throughout the summer. This sequence of events is in contrast to the situation in
stratified waters, where the supply of nutrients tends to become depleted after
the spring bloom.
Iles andTidal
Sinclair (1982)
showed that there
was aplankton
remarkable similarity between
7.3.1
mixing
and
the distribution of larval herring and the occurrence of tidal mixing, on both east
production
and
west coasts of the North Atlantic. In the Gulf of Maine area larval her-ring are

found on Nantucket Shoals, on Georges Bank, and in the tidally mixed areas off New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia. In the North Sea, the spawning grounds of the
Downs, Banks, and BuchanShetlands stocks of herring are in tidally mixed
areas. Even in the Gulf of St Lawrence, where the occurrence of tidally mixed areas
had been predicted by Pingree and Griffiths (1980), five of six major herring
spawning grounds are in tidally mixed areas.
WIWIN

The question then arises:

what is it about these
tidally mixed areas that
makes them suitable as
herring spawning
grounds?

WIWIN

In general (see Chapter 4), tidally mixed areas have

a relatively uniform biomass of phytoplankton
throughout the growing season, and the zooplankton
biomass tends to peak late in the year

WIWIN

7.4 THE BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF

INTERNAL WAVES
7.4.1 Internal waves as nutrient pumps
Pingree and Mardell (1981) reported on a series of studies of the
shelf break adjacent to the Celtic Sea in the eastern North Atlantic.
Subsequent studies (Maz 1983, Pingree et al. 1986, Maz et al.
1986) showed that during the off-shelf streaming phase of the
barotropic tide the isotherms in the upper shelf region were
depressed. When the tide slackened, the depression separated into
on-shelf and off-shelf propagating internal tides
The effect of internal tidal waves when they approach close to
shore was investigated at the head of Monterey Canyon in
Monterey Bay, California (Shea andBroenkow 1982). They identified
a tidal bore that, at the peak of the internal wave, forced a 20 m
lens of cold, nutrient-rich water out of the canyon and onto the
continental shelf. They considered this tidal bore to be a major
contributor to coastal productivity when upwelling was not in
progress
GRACEHELDA

7.4.2 Internal waves and phytoplankton

production

ande and Yentsch (1988) pointed out that

internal waves traveling along the pycnocline
are likely both to increase turbulent transport
of nutrients and to cause the phytoplankton
to oscillate in depth, thereby increasing the
average light intensity experienced by them.
This condition should be taken into account
when making in situmeasurements of primary
production. Vandevelde et al. (1987)
produced data supporting this view, from the
central Gulf of St Lawrence
GRACEHELDA

7.4.3 Internal waves and kelp producti

During the 19579 El Nio, a similar depression of

the thermocline had caused the kelp beds to be so
starved of nutrients that kelp productivity was
reduced below the level needed to meet the
grazing demands of sea urchins. In other words,
nutrient deprivation and sea urchin grazing
interacted to cause widespread destruction of kelp
beds at that time. By the time of the 1982 4 El
Nio, commercial harvesting had reduced sea
urchin densities. In spite of deprivation of
nutrients, there was less damage to the kelp beds
(Tegner and Dayton 1991).
GRACEHELDA

7.4.4 Internal waves and kelp production

(a) Concentration of organisms without transport
A model published by Lennert-Cody and Franks (1999)
included a two-layered water column and both linear
and weakly nonlinear waves. Concentrations of cells
increased with increasing amplitude of the waves and
the ability of the organisms to maintain position in a
downwelling. Nevertheless, the model predicted that the
maximum concentration of organisms would be less
than twice the local background concentration, and
would last no longer than the wave period. It appeared
that this model would not explain the dense bands of
algal blooms seen to move shoreward with the internal
waves.

GRACEHELDA

(b) Aggregation and transport of organisms

The implications of these findings are that quantitative
studies of the larval abundances of shallow-water and
intertidal organisms must take into account the nonrandom
distribution of those larvae in coastal waters, and of the
physical mechanisms that may carry them to the coastal
shallows from far out on the continental shelf. Since the
occurrence of internal waves and slicks is dependent on the
tides, it will not be surprising if there is a fortnightly tidal
rhythm in inshore transport and settlement. Further studies
of the relationship between internal wave packets and
bottom topography will be expected to throw light on the
patchydistribution of many coastal organisms..

GRACEHELDA

7.5 TIDAL CURRENTS AND TOPOGRAPHY7

7.5.1 Tidal currents and island stirring
Low-frequency internal waves were clearly implicated in the
supply of
nutrients to the reef system on Tahiti by Wolanski and
Delesalle (1995). High amplitude internal waves with
periods of 24 hours or greater raise nutrient-rich water up
to 30 40 m depth at the edge of the reef. From that depth
large surface waves breaking on the reef force the nutrientrich water up and onto the reef. The authors suggest the
mechanism is linked to the bathymetry of the edge of the
reef, which consists of a series of gullies or mini-canyons
(grooves) with steep walls (spurs). The surface waves break
on the spurs and generate upward flows in the grooves.

GRACEHELDA

7.5.2 Tidal currents and coastal or bottom topography

Upwelling obviously occurs, and an early explanation (Garrett
and Loucks 1976) was that it was driven by centrifugal forces
associated with the strong tidal currents along the convex
coastline. Tee et al. (1993) proposed a new mechanism
involving bottom topography, offering field observations and a
model in support of their proposal. Residual currents flowing
from deep to shallow water across a submarine ridge generate
upwelling. These upwelled parcels of water are transported by
a longshore current away from the upwelling region and into a
region of strong tidal mixing. The combination of topographic
upwelling and strong tidal mixing leads to the observed coldwater anomaly and its associated high biological productivity
off Cape Sable.

GRACEHELDA

7.6 TIDAL CURRENTS AND VERTICALLY MIGRATING

ORGANISMS
Tidal currents have a minimal velocity on the sea
floor and increase velocity with increasing distance
from the bottom. An organism rising through a tidal
current
experiences
an
increasing
rate
of
displacement.

GINA

A. MIGRATIONS SYNCHRONIZED WITH

THE SOLAR DAY

. (a) non-migrating organisms

which remain at the surface;
(b) vertically migrating
organisms.

GINA

B. MIGRATIONS SYNCHRONIZED WITH THE TIDES

Some organisms make vertical migrations that are

synchronized with the tides, rising into the water column when
the tide ows in one direction, and staying close to the bottom
when the currents ow in the opposite direction. Under these
circumstances it is the component that causes strong
horizontal migrations.

GINA

7.7 SUMMARY: THE MULTIPLE EFFECTS OF TIDES

Instead, we have concentrated here on the effects of the tides on
biological processes remote from shore. We have seen that the vertical
mixing in the water column, caused by tidal currents, creates conditions
in which nutrients are sup- plied to the phytoplankton all summer long,
creating conditions favorable for the growth of larval and juvenile shes.
Tidal currents moving over the bottom in stratied water also tend to
gener- ate internal waves at the pycnocline.
These waves are thought to mix nutrient-rich water up into the
nutrient-depleted mixed layer, stimulating biological production near the
shelf edge
GINA

Plate 1 World ocean chlorophyll distribution

estimated from the color of the oceans as observed
by satellites having color scanners. Regions in the
middle of the ocean (dark blue and magenta) have
the
lowest
biomass
of
phytoplankton
and
presumably
the
lowest
productivity.
Higher
phytoplankton biomass GINA
(light blue and green) is
found along the equator and in bands lying poleward

Plate 2 Distribution of
surface temperature on the
western
North
Atlantic
Ocean on January 19, 1989.
Highest temperatures are in
the
warm
(yellow)
subtropical waters and in
those carried north in the
Gulf Stream, where they
mix with the colder (green
and blue) northern waters.
GINA

Plate 3 Sea surface temperature off

California showing typical upwelling
conditions on June 15, 2003. The
warmer surface water pushed
offshore by the alongshore wind is
replaced by cooler water from below

GINA

Plate 6Northsouth sections of potential temperature,

salinity, and dissolved oxygen through the Pacic and Atlantic
Oceans. The distributions of these properties through the
oceans are due to the sinking of cold dense water at high
latitudes, biological consumption of oxygen, heating and
evaporation at the surface, and the wind-driven circulation
GINA

THANKS FOR
YOUR ATTENTION