Traveling of tidal wave in the north part of the South China Sea and the tidal energy divergence appearing in the area off Jiazi Station

The traveling route of tidal wave in the north part of the South China Sea is sketched from the numerical modeling result of the tidal energy flux,which shows several branches. Analysis indicates that the continental shelf area in the north part of the South China Sea including the Beibu Gulf,gets only a small part of tidal energy coming from the Pacific Ocean and passing through the Luzon Strait,and hence the tide and tidal current in that area is weak. The complex topography results in those branches of the traveling route of tidal wave pointing to different directions. In this paper by using the observational data and tidal traveling route analysis the abnormal phenomena of tidal wave in the Jiazi,east Guangdong coast are discussed. These phenomena include specially large tidal characteristic coefficient F appearing in that area,and quite different tidal characteristics for tide and tidal current. Analysis shows that the tidal energy divergence between the two tidal wave branches traveling to the south entrance of the Taiwan Strait and to the Zhujiang River Estuary as well as Guangzhou Bay might be one of the important reasons to cause these phenomena.