Abnormally large radiational S2 tides in the Gulf of Tonkin and implications for other diurnal resonant seas

Radiational tides derived from solar radiation are important components of ocean tides. Understanding dynamical features of radiational tides can be beneficial for further promoting the accuracy of water level prediction. Generally, radiational S2 amplitudes are only 10%–30% of gravitational S2 amplitudes, which has been verified by numerous studies. However, a previous study indicated that radidational S2 amplitudes can reach 60% of gravitational S2 amplitudes in the Gulf of Tonkin and related physical processes are unknown. In this paper, we revisit this abnormal phenomenon and find that such large radiational S2 amplitudes are not real, but artifacts induced by the inadaptation of the method based on the credo of smoothness. Specifically, observed semi-diurnal tidal admittances in the Gulf of Tonkin are not smooth due to strong nonlinear interactions between large main diurnal tides. We quantitatively estimate and remove the contributions of quadratic and quartic nonlinear interactions to main semi-diurnal tides and find that the real ratio of radiational S2 amplitude to astronomical S2 amplitude is only 0.17 at Beihai, which is basically consistent with previous model results. Our study highlights the importance of eliminating the interference of nonlinear interactions to semi-diurnal tidal admittances in all diurnal resonant sea areas like the Gulf of Tonkin and the Gulf of Thailand when extracting radiational S2 tides from sea level observations. •Large radiational S2 amplitudes in the Gulf of Tonkin are not real.•Observed semi-diurnal tidal admittances are distorted by nonlinear interactions.•Our method is universal for all diurnal resonant sea areas.