Tidally induced residual current over the Malin Sea continental slope

- Residual currents generated over the Malin Sea continental slope are investigated theoretically and numerically.
- A simple analytical solution for tidally driven residual slope currents has been developed.
- The analytical solution is validated against numerical solution in a wide range of input parameters using the MITgcm.
- Good consistency has been found between analytical and numerical solutions for the Malin Sea shelf/slope area.

Tidally induced residual currents generated over shelf-slope topography are investigated analytically and numerically using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model. Observational support for the presence of such a slope current was recorded over the Malin Sea continental slope during the 88-th cruise of the RRS “James Cook” in July 2013. A simple analytical formula developed here in the framework of time-averaged shallow water equations has been validated against a fully nonlinear nonhydrostatic numerical solution. A good agreement between analytical and numerical solutions is found for a wide range of input parameters of the tidal flow and bottom topography. In application to the Malin Shelf area both the numerical model and analytical solution predicted a northward moving current confined to the slope with its core located above the 400 m isobath and with vertically averaged maximum velocities up to 8 cm s−1, which is consistent with the in-situ data recorded at three moorings and along cross-slope transects.