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.