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13th Biennial Challenger Conference for Marine Science8th -11th September 2008 |
John H Simpson
School of Ocean Sciences
Bangor University
John Simpson is Professor of Physical Oceanography in the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University which has been his base for many years. A seagoing Oceanographer with an enthusiasm for making new measurements to test theories and models, he also gets involved in theoretical developments and enjoys the challenge of inter-disciplinary studies.
The Tides Part II : More Stirring Stories
With the achievements of successful routine tidal predictions and the increasing understanding and accurate modelling of the structure of the barotropic tides in the world ocean, it was suggested in the 1980’s that the grand campaign of tidal research was coming to an end. Recently, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in the tidal processes brought about by the recognition of the crucial role they play in promoting mixing and, hence, controlling circulation and structure in the ocean. In this talk, I will consider some of the mechanisms through which tidal forcing determines the physical behaviour of the ocean, focussing particularly on the shelf seas where, in many cases, tidal processes are the dominant environmental control exerting major influences on the biogeochemistry.