A Comparison of Tidal Conversion Parameterizations for Tidal Models

The conversion of barotropic to baroclinic tidal energy in the global abyssal ocean is calculated using three different formulations. The calculations are done both “offline,” that is, using externally given tidal currents to estimate the energy conversion, and “online,” that is, by using the formulations to parameterize linear wave drag in a prognostic tidal model. All three schemes produce globally integrated offline dissipation rates beneath 500-m depth of ~0.6–0.8 TW for the M2 constituent, but the spatial structures vary significantly between the parameterizations. Detailed investigations of the energy transfer in local areas confirm the global results: there are large differences between the schemes, although the horizontally integrated conversion rates are similar. The online simulations are evaluated by comparing the sea surface elevation with data from the TOPEX/Poseidon database, and the error is then significantly lower when using the parameterization provided by Nycander than with the other two parameterizations examined.