Copyright © 2013 Anzhou Cao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Based on the theory of inverse problem, the optimization of open boundary conditions (OBCs) in a 3D internal tidal model is investigated with the adjoint method. Fourier coefficients of internal tide on four open boundaries, which are regarded as OBCs, are inverted simultaneously. During the optimization, the steepest descent method is used to minimize cost function. The reasonability and feasibility of the model are tested by twin experiments (TEs). In TE1, OBCs on four open boundaries are successfully inverted by using independent point (IP) strategy, suggesting that IP strategy is useful in parameter estimation. Results of TE2 indicate that the model is effective even by assimilating inaccurate “observations.” Based on conclusions of TEs, the internal tide around Hawaii is simulated by assimilating T/P data in practical experiment. The simulated cochart shows good agreement with that obtained from the Oregon State University tidal model and T/P observations. Careful inspection shows that the major difference between simulated results and OSU model results is short-scale fluctuations superposed on coamplitude lines, which can be treated as the surface manifestation modulated by the internal tide. The computed surface manifestation along T/P tracks is comparable to the estimation in previous work.