Coastal ocean simulation of the Gulf of Thailand: A case study of finite volume coastal ocean model

The Sunda Shelf is settled in Southeast Asia where it forms a large submerged extension of the continental shelf of mainland Asia. The Sunda shelf includes the Greater Sunda Islands of Borneo, Java and Sumatra and the bulk of the shelf forms the shallow seabed of the South China Sea, the coastal areas of Cambodia, Malaysia Peninsula, Singapore, Borneo, and parts of the coast of Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. This shelf is characterized by complex shoreline and seafloor topography which can result in complicated tidal characteristics. In this work, we aim to gain insightful understanding of mechanism of the tidal wave propagation in this region. To achieve this, we perform simulation with high fidelity for the Gulf of Thailand and nearby areas. The high fidelity includes high resolution bathymetry (30 seconds), finer scale capturing and ability to preserve the realistic, complex coastline and islands. To this end, we employ the finite volume method in our simulation for its geometric flexibility, computational efficiency as well as volume and mass conservation assurance. In the current study, we focus mainly on the tidal dynamic processes in the Sunda shelf region, and we numerically scrutinize exact amphidromic systems as well as the corresponding energy flux of the principal tides (M₂, K₁, S₂ and O₁) in the Sunda shelf of the South China Sea. Comparisons to other numerical and experimental observations have been done.