Articles | Volume 22, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-2957-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-2957-2026
Research article
 | 
30 Sep 2026
Research article |  | 30 Sep 2026

Local dissipation ratio of internal tides at key topographic features in the South China Sea

Zuqing Yuan, Hui Sun, Qingxuan Yang, Fenyuan Han, and Jianing Li

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Cited articles

Alford, M. H., Simmons, H. L., Marques, O. B., and Girton, J. B.: Internal tide attenuation in the North Pacific, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 8205–8213, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082648, 2019. 
Arbic, B. K., Alford, M. H., Ansong, J. K., Buijsman, M. C., Ciotti, R. B., Farrar, J. T., Hallberg, R. W., Henze, C. E., Hill, C. N., Luecke, C. A., Menemenlis, D., Metzger, E. J., Müller, M., Nelson, A. D., Nelson, B. C., Ngodock, H. E., Ponte, R. M., Richman, J. G., Savage, A. C., Scott, R. B., Shriver, J. F., Simmons, H. L., Souopgui, I., Timko, P. G., Wallcraft, A. J., Zamudio, L., and Zhao, Z.: A primer on global internal tide and internal gravity wave continuum modeling in HYCOM and MITgcm, in: New Frontiers in Operational Oceanography, edited by: Chassignet, E. P., Pascual, A., Tintoré, J., and Verron, J., GODAE OceanView, 307–392, https://doi.org/10.17125/gov2018.ch13, 2018. 
Buijsman, M. C., Klymak, J. M., Legg, S., Alford, M. H., Farmer, D., MacKinnon, J. A., Nash, J. D., Park, J.-H., Pickering, A., and Simmons, H.: Three-dimensional double-ridge internal tide resonance in Luzon Strait, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 44, 850–869, https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-13-024.1, 2014. 
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Short summary
The local dissipation ratio (q*) of internal tides (ITs) is usually treated as constant in large-scale ocean models. Our study finds q* ranges from 0.3 to 0.7 in the Luzon Strait driven by high-mode ITs breaking, and exceeds 1 around the Nansha Islands driven by far-field ITs converging and scattering. We proposed two parameterizations for q*, which capture its regional difference and periodic change and highlight the need to incorporate non-local processes into tidal mixing parameterizations.
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