Abstract
Currents and pressure records from the DeepLev mooring station (Eastern
Levantine Basin) are analyzed to identify the dominant tidal
constituents and their seasonal and depth variability. Harmonic and
spectral analysis on seasonal segments of currents and pressure reveal
attributes of the tidal regime in the Eastern Levantine Basin: (1)
Dominant semidiurnal sea-level variability; (2) seasonal variation of
semidiurnal and diurnal tides found in both currents and pressure
datasets; and (3) significant diurnal currents with weak semidiurnal
currents in all seasons. The most dominant tidal constituent found from
the pressure dataset is the M2 (12.4 h). Results from pressure datasets
generally agree with previous models and observations of semidiurnal
tides, while the diurnal tides are larger than previously reported by
8-9 cm in the winter and 1-2 cm in the summer. The surface current
variability differs from the one reported before in the Eastern
Levantine Basin, with M2 magnitudes weaker by 1 cm, while the diurnal
tides (K1, O1) are 1-2 cm larger. Seasonal segments showed seasonal
differences in the local tidal regime’s amplitudes, with the K1 (7 cm
difference between winter and fall) and S2 (4 cm difference between
summer and fall) the most pronounced. We analyzed the M2 and S2 tides
using surface drifters near DeepLev at different dataset lengths while
considering the time constraints needed to resolve the tides adequately.
The longer the dataset, the higher the resolution of the tidal analysis
and the lower the amplitude leakages from nearby frequencies resulting
in weaker tidal currents.