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Intracoastal tides of upper Laguna Madre, Texas

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Date Issued:
1978
Title: Intracoastal tides of upper Laguna Madre, Texas.
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Name(s): Smith, Ned P.
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Article
Date Issued: 1978
Publisher: Texas Academy of Science.
Place of Publication: Lubbock, TX
Physical Form: pdf
Extent: 13 p.
Language(s): English
Identifier: FA00007130 (IID)
Note(s): A l-yr record of hourly water level measurements from Upper Laguna Madre, Texas,indicates water level variations occur primarily in response to estuarine-shelf exchanges in 3forms. A dominant, semi-annual rise and fall of sea level is driven externally by thermohalineand dynamic processes in the Gulf of Mexico. Meteorologically forced variations in coastalsea level produce exchanges and thus intracoastal water level variations over time scales onthe order of 1 to 2 weeks. Astronomical tides are relatively small perturbations superimposedonto the longer-period processes.Water level data from Port Aransas, Texas, and Upper Laguna Madre are used to tracethe movement and damping of tidal motions from the coast, through Corpus Christi Bay tothe study site. Tidal crests move at approximately 4-5 km/hr, and the constituents are decreasedto less than 25% of their amplitudes at the coast. Tidal motions in Upper LagunaMadre are primarily at diurnal periods, and K₁ and O₁ constituent amplitudes are both onthe order of 2-3 cm. Comparison of tidal and non-tidal period water level variations indicatesthat tidal motions account for approximately 5% of the total observed variation in water level at this location.
Florida Atlantic University. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute contribution 86
This manuscript is an author version with the final publication available and may be cited as: Smith, N. P. (1978). Intracoastal tides of upper Laguna Madre, Texas. Texas Journal of Science, 30(1), 85-95.
Subject(s): Laguna Madre (Tex.)
Tides
Water levels--Measurement
Thermohaline circulation
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007130
Host Institution: FAU