Tide variation and signals during 2000-2004 in the northern Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Abstract

Variations of tide and mean sea level (MSL) were studied during the period August 2000-March 2004 in the northern Gulf of Aqaba to detect the seasonal differences of tide records and tide components signals. The study revealed seasonal cycle of the MSL in the northern Gulf, which was lower during summer than in winter due to the relative strong wind and higher evaporation during summer. The MSL during the year of 2003 Fwas the lowest comparing to the other years duing the study period which might be related to wind driven force and mixed layer depth. The statistical comparison analysis of the MSL among winters, springs and summers of the years 2000- 2004 exhibited significant difference values (p < 0.0001) among springs and summers, whereas no significant differences among winters (p ~ 0.1) were manifested. Power spectrum analysis of the MSL revealed six distinguished signals with different periods that four of these signals (12.36, 6.19, 4.12 and 1.01 h) were superimposed by seiches in both the Gulf of Aqaba for the first mode and the Red Sea for the second and third mode with the principle harmonic components. The signals of 23.87 and 8.44 h are basically a lunisolar diurnal partial tide ( K 1) and a lunar terdiurnal constituent (M3), respectively.