Developing a Tidal Constituent Database for the Eastern North Pacific Ocean

This paper describes the development of the Eastern North Pacific (ENPAC) 2003 tidal database of the elevations and velocity components of eight major tidal constituents. This database was developed using the two-dimensional, depth integrated form of the coastal hydrodynamic model, ADCIRC, which consists of the shallow water equations in the generalized wave continuity equation form. The final ENPAC 2003 model incorporates the most accurate bathymetric data available. The resolution of the unstructured finite element mesh was designed to provide high levels of resolution along the continental slope and throughout the coastal waters to resolve the non-linear hydrodynamics that dominate the area. The domain of this model extends beyond the continental shelf, into deep ocean waters but does not include any amphidromes located in the Pacific Ocean. At the open boundary, the forcing conditions are extracted from global ocean models, in the area where these models are most accurate. A brief discussion comparing the results from the global ocean models with the results from the ADCIRC model is included in this paper. The results of the ENPAC 2003 model are approaching the error levels found in the station data that is used for model validation.