Tidal Responses in the Waddensea

Abstract

If a tidal wave passes through the opening, south of Texel, into the Western Waddensea (Netherlands) the shape of this sea - a basin with a narrow entrance - offers the possibility for a Helmholtz response. This research takes the tidal data in the Waddensea and looks for agreement with the equations proposed for the Helmholtz response and compares to the first order solution, that is a periodic function with sharp and short low waters and long high waters. To achieve this, an algorithm was written to make a computer recognise a tidal wave from minimum to minimum. From here the speed and acceleration of the water level were calculated to find Helmholtz behaviour. A bottom composed of more than one gradient was looked at and more applications of the created algorithm were explored.