Abstract
Understanding the pathways of floating material at the surface ocean is
important to improve our knowledge on surface circulation and for its
ecological and environmental impacts. Virtual particle simulations are a
common method to simulate the dispersion of floating material. To advect
the particles, ocean models’ velocities are usually used, but only
recent ones include tidal forcing. Our research question is: What is the
effect of tidal forcing on virtual particle dispersion and accumulation
at the ocean surface? As inputs we use velocity outputs from eNATL60, a
twin simulation with and without tidal forcing. We focus on the Açores
Islands region and we find: 1) Surface particles have a larger
displacement, but a lower distance travelled with than without tidal
forcing 2) Surface accumulation seasonal differences depend on the
spatial scale of the ocean structures 3) A greater variability in
surface accumulation is present with tidal forcing.