THE LUNAR TIDE IN THE GULF OF l ft;UEZAS A CANAL SHAPED BASIN

THE LUNAR TIDE IN THE GULF OF l
ft;UEZAS A CANAL SHAPED
BASIN
BY
G.F. Soliman*, H.A. Anwar, S.H. Sharaf EI-Din and A.1. Beltagy.
… National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Kayet-Bey, Alexandria, Egypt.
Key Words: Physical Oceanography, Tides, Red Sea.
ABSTRACT
7he Hydl’odYl1amicall1/{mel’ical methods were used to study the tidal motion
ill the Gu(( (?! Suez as a channel shaped with variable depths. Its width was
assumed unt(ol’m in ol1e case and variable in the other. the rotation qf the
earth was ignored in the calculatio11s while !riction was taken into
cOl1Sideratiol1. the results obtainedfor the semi-diu1’l1allunar tide in the two
cases were compared with real observations at different locations along the
gu(/. The results are more sati5factOlY il1 the secol1d case which reveals that
the width affects the motiol1 il1 shallmv water bodies.
When the mean water depth over each cross-sectional area was replaced
by the 100gest value existing il1 each sectiol1, better results were obtained. This
implies that the tidal 111otion in shallow basins as the Gu(f of Suez is velY
sensitive to the distribution (?! the water depths. Ihus, more accurate results
could be obtained ?f.finer grid resolution could be used. Generally, the tidal
patterns indicate the presence (?f a stationOly wave with a 110dalline il1 the
vicinity (?f Ras Gharih.