Two-Dimensional Analysis of the Semidiurnal Tide
in Some Regions of the White Sea

A. V. Nekrasov^{†, a} and R. I. May^b

^a Russian State Hydrometeorological University, St. Petersburg, Russia

^b St. Petersburg State University, Department of Oceanology, St. Petersburg, Russia

E-mail: rimay@mail.ru

Received July 3, 2008; in final form, October 28, 2008

Abstract—An improved method of two-dimensional kinematical structural analysis of tides (the “method of
the orbits”) is presented. This method allows us to determine the parameters of the primary tidal waves shaping
the observed tidal structure. The construction of the vertical orbits for the individual tidal harmonics is per-
formed along the horizontal coordinate axes; one of them is oriented along the so-called “reactive azimuth,”
which coincides with the direction of the tidal current at the instant of the zero tidal level. In this case, the orbit
parameters include information on the amplitude-phase relations of the interfering waves and allow us to deter-
mine the angle of the waves crossing. The suggested method enables us to quantitatively describe the mecha-
nism of the tidal formation with oblique interference both close to the shore and in the open sea. We tested the
new method in two local zones of the White Sea (Morzhovets Island and in the vicinity of the entrance to Kan-
dalaksha Gulf) where the presence of rotating semidiurnal tidal currents evidences the significant role of
oblique interference of tidal waves. In these zones, the developed method made it possible to perform a detailed
quantitative analysis of the local tide structure caused by the M₂ tidal wave, which plays the dominant role in
the White Sea. The result describes the structure of the propagation of the primary tidal waves better than the
field of “pure” energy fluxes that was used earlier.

DOI: 10.1134/S0001437009060034

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