World Tides: A modern

Software for Sea Level

Analysis & Prediction
Tarek M. El-Geziry (PhD)
Researcher
Laboratory of Physical Oceanography
Division of Marine Environment
National Institute of Oceanography & Fisheries (NIOF), Egypt
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 Talk Outlines
 Aim of the Present Talk
 Introduction
 World Tides Software
 Exemplar case study of Abu-Qir Bay
 Questions ?!

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 Aim of the Present Talk

In this talk I will shed the light on one of the

modern software used for the sea level analysis
& prediction.

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 Introduction

 At any location, the observed sea level is the sum of

two different components: the astronomical tides
(celestial impact) and the residual sea level (steric effect).
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 Harmonic Analysis
 This process depends on the data analysis of the sea level
records from a tide gauge and converting this record to simple
harmonic constituents.
 Each constituent has its own period according to the position of
earth, moon and sun.
2
 (t )  Z o   An cos( t n )
Tn
η (t) is the tidal elevation as a function of time (m); Z0 MSL (m);
An is the amplitude of harmonic component (m); Tn is the period of a
harmonic component (s); [2π/Tn] is the tidal angular velocity (rad/s); t
is the time (s); and φn is the tidal phase of the harmonic component.
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 Tidal Constituents
Name Symbol % of Importance Period (Solar hr.)
Principal lunar M2 100 12.42
Principal solar S2 46 12.00
Larger lunar elliptic N2 19 12.66
Luni-solar semidiurnal K2 13 11.97
Larger solar elliptic T2 12.01
Smaller solar elliptic L2 12.19
Lunar elliptic second order 2N2 12.91
Larger lunar evectional ν2 12.63
Smaller lunar evectional λ2 12.22
Variational μ2 12.87
Luni-solar diurnal K1 58 23.93
Principal lunar diurnal O1 42 25.82
Principal solar diurnal P1 19 24.07
Large lunar elliptic Q1 26.87
Smaller lunar elliptic M1 24.84
Small lunar elliptic J1 23.10
Lunar fortnightly Mf 17 327.86
Lunar monthly Mm 661.30

Pugh (1987) Solar semi-annual Ssa 2191.43

 Types of Tides
F=
(O1+K1)/(S2+M2)

0 – 0.25 0.25 – 1.5

1.5 – 3.0 3.0
Semidiurnal Mixed
Mixed Diurnal Diurnal
Tides Semidiurnal

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 World Tides Software for
Sea Level Analysis &
Prediction

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 World Tides Software
(Boon, 2004)
WORLD TIDES is a desktop computer program for the sea level
analysis and prediction, working under the MATLAB® environment.
The software permits quick separation of a time series of water level
measurements into its tidal and non-tidal components using a selective
least squares harmonic reduction employing up to 35 tidal constituents.
By default, there are five constituents generated by the WORLD
TIDES software. These are M2, S2, O1, K1 and N2.
After saving the tidal constants for the constituents selected during
analysis, the user can generate predictions of the astronomical tide.

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 World Tides Software
(Contd.)
WORLD TIDES analysis and prediction are based on the
following Harmonic Analysis Method of Least Squares
(HAMELS):
m
h(t )  ho   fj H j cos( j t  u j  k *j )
j 1

Where
t = time in serial hours, h(t) = predicted water level at t, h0 = mean water
level, fj = lunar node factor for jth constituent, Hj = mean amplitude for jth
constituent, ωj = frequency of jth constituent, uj = nodal phase for jth
constituent, κj* = phase of jth constituent and m = number of constituents.
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 World Tides Software
(Contd.)
The Excel input sheet format to be read by the software must be in
the following format:
Col. 1 - Record number, station number or Julian day (not used in
calculations)
Col. 2 - Date in Excel month-day-year format (3/14/01)
Col. 3 - Time in 24-hour time format (13:30)
Col. 4 – Water level in meters or feet

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 World Tides Software
(Contd.)

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 World Tides Software
(Contd.)

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 World Tides Software
(Contd.)

Boon
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 Case Study: Abu-Qir Bay

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 Case Study: Abu-Qir Bay

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 Case Study: Abu-Qir Bay

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 Case Study: Abu-Qir Bay
AQuir Sea Level.xlsx: 366-day analysis
1
observed

O1 K1 N2 M2 S2 astronom ic
residual

0.8

0.6

0.53 m366
Water Level (meters)

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Julian Day 2008 UTC

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 Case Study: Abu-Qir Bay
0.545

0.540

0.535
Astronomical Tides (m)

0.530

0.525

0.520

0.515
1 877 1753 2629 3505 4381 5257 6133 7009 7885 8761
Time (Hours)

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 Case Study: Abu-Qir Bay

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 Case Study: Abu-Qir Bay

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 Case Study: Abu-Qir Bay
0.20

0.15

0.10
Elevations above MSL (m)

0.05

0.00
1 23 45 67 89 111 133 155 177 199 221 243 265 287 309 331 353 375 397 419 441 463 485 507 529 551 573 595 617 639 661 683 705

-0.05

-0.10

-0.15

-0.20
Time (Hours)

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 Case Study: Abu-Qir Bay
Observed WT

0.30

0.20

0.10
Elevations above MSL (m)

0.00
1 23 45 67 89 111 133 155 177 199 221 243 265 287 309 331 353 375 397 419 441 463 485 507 529 551 573 595 617 639 661 683 705

-0.10

-0.20

-0.30
Time (Hours)

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