Modeling the Tide System of the East China Sea with GIS

This article describes systematic research on the tide dynamic system under the support of the Geographic Information System and ocean fluid dynamics model. Through the high-resolution numerical simulation, we found some previously unreported phenomena, such as a low tide amplitude zone of the M2 constituent near Zhoushan isles, a low tide amplitude zone of the K1 constituent near Taiwan island, and a circular flow point band. The results of this research also show that the formation of the tide system is affected by sea-bottom friction coefficient, topography under water, and shoreline morphology. The change of shoreline morphology and significant change of topography under water play important roles in the tide system. Under specified conditions on input tide waves, shoreline morphology has a dominant impact on the formation of the tide system. With the systematically reconstructed sea level and the coastal change of 30 periods since the Pleni Glacier, the evolution process of the tide system of the East China Sea was simulated. Based on the simulation analysis of relationships among topography, shoreline and tide flow, this study concludes that the characteristic of the tide dynamic system is a dominant influencing factor on the formation of large-scale sand ridge clusters. In this article, the integration of the Geographic Information System, tide numerical simulation system, and tide movement visualization system are discussed as an example for related studies.