Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 64, pp.

61 to 80, 2008

Three-Dimensional Modeling of Tidal Circulation and

Mixing over the Java Sea
A LAN F. KOROPITAN1,2* and MOTOYOSHI IKEDA 1
1
Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University,
Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
2
Department of Marine Science and Technology, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB),
Kampus IPB Darmaga, Bogor 16680, Indonesia

(Received 13 February 2007; in revised form 6 August 2007; accepted 29 August 2007)

A combination of a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model and in-situ measurements Keywords:

provides the structures of barotropic tides, tidal circulation and their relationship ⋅ Hydrodynamic
with turbulent mixing in the Java Sea, which allow us to understand the impact of the model,
tides on material distribution. The model retains high horizontal and vertical resolu- ⋅ barotropic tides,
⋅ Java Sea,
tions and is forced by the boundary conditions taken from a global model. The meas-
⋅ resonance,
urements are composed of the sea level at coastal stations and currents at moorings
⋅ tidal energy,
embedded in Seawatch buoys, in addition to hydrographic data. The simulated tidal ⋅ residual currents,
elevations are in good agreement with the data for the K1 and M2 constituents. The ⋅ tidal mixing.
K 1 tide clearly shows the lowest mode resonance in the Java Sea with intensification
around the nodal point in the central region. The M2 tide is secondary and propa-
gates westward from the eastern open boundary, along with a counterclockwise
amphidromic point in the western part. The K1 tide produces a major component of
tidal energy, which flows westward and dissipates through the node region near the
Karimata Strait. Meanwhile, the M 2 tide dissipates in the entire Java Sea. However,
the residual currents are mainly induced by the M2 tide, which flows westward fol-
lowing the M 2 tidal wave propagation. The tidal mixing is mainly caused by K1 tide
which peaks at the central region and is consistent with the uniform temperature and
salinity along the vertical dimension. This mixing is expected to play an important
role in the vertical exchange of nutrients and control of biological productivity.

1. Introduction east Sumatra to more than 60 m in its eastern part. Mor-

In common with many shelf or coastal waters, the
Java Sea is under growing stress from various human
demands. Talaue-McManus (2000) showed that wastes
from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources, along
with sediments and solid wastes are the major sources of
pollutants that impinge on coastal systems. A better un-
derstanding of physical processes is of great importance
for successful management of the coastal and marine en-
vironment.
The Java Sea is located in the middle of three main
islands in the Indonesian archipelago: Kalimantan, Java
and Sumatra (Fig. 1). The Java Sea is a shallow water
where depths increase from 20 m off the coast of south-
* Corresponding author. E-mail: alan@ipb.ac.id
Copyright©The Oceanographic Society of Japan/TERRAPUB/Springer
phologically, the Java Sea is roughly rectangular, with
mean depth, length and width of 50 m, 950 km and 440
km, respectively. In the northern open boundary, the Java
Sea is linked with three straits: Karimata, Gaspar and
Bangka. The eastern and western open boundaries are
connected with the Flores Sea and Sunda Strait, respec-
tively.
Several earlier studies have been published on tides
and tidal currents in the Indonesian seas, with a short re-
view of the Java Sea region. Wyrtki (1961) presented a
qualitative understanding of these phenomena in South-
east Asian waters, based on tide gauges and current me-
ters. Related to Indonesian throughflow exchange proc-
esses, Hatayama et al. (1996) comprehensively reported
tides, tidal currents and the influence of tidal mixing in
the Indonesian seas using a two-dimensional hydrody-
namic model and several tide gauge observations. Schiller
(2004) then improved our understanding of the mixing

61
Fig. 1. Model domain and observation locations. The 11 tide gauges (denoted by number) are Belitung (1), Kota Waringin (2),
Sampit (3), Barito (4), Pari Island (5), Jakarta (6), Cirebon (7), Semarang (8), Surabaya (9), Kali Anget (10) and Meneng (11).
The seven mooring buoys for velocity data (denoted by asterisk) are SW50, SW51, SW52, SW53, SW54, SW55, and SW60
which deployed at around 2 m depth.

processes in the Indonesian throughflow region using a
three-dimensional ocean general circulation model for
long-term simulations. The recent study of tides in the
Indonesian seas was briefly reported by Ray et al. (2005)
using co-amplitude and co-phase charts based on the data
assimilation work of Egbert and Erofeeva (2002).
A notable feature of the Java Sea tides compared with
the adjacent deep ocean is the dominance of the diurnal
over semi-diurnal constituents. This is in contrast with
the Pacific and Indian Oceans, where the tides are pre-
dominantly semi-diurnal. Wyrtki (1961) reported that the
predominantly diurnal tide in the Java Sea is related to
the behavior of tidal propagation from the adjacent seas.
The semi-diurnal tidal wave entering the Java Sea is weak
due to the effect of deflection of a northward tidal wave
from the Indian Ocean in the Flores Sea. Moreover, a
smaller part of the deflected wave advances further into
the Makassar Strait and meets with the wave from the
Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, the stronger diurnal
tidal wave from the Pacific Ocean is able to penetrate
into the Flores Sea to meet with waves from the Indian
Ocean through the Lesser Sunda Islands and Timor Sea.

62 A. F. Koropitan and M. Ikeda

 Table 1. Cases study of numerical experiment.
Case study Tidal constituent Purpose
F8 O1, K1, M 2, S2, P1, Q1, N2 and K2 Sensitivity of the K 1 and M 2 tides (amplitude and phase) to the open boundary
related to nonlinear effect
F4 O1, K1, M2 and S2
F2 K1 and M2
K1 tide K1 Calculation of tidal energy flow, residual current and mixing quantities
M2 tide M2
There, the two waves are refracted and enter the Java Sea.
These phenomena were also reported by Ray et al. (2005)
using a data assimilation technique. However, Hoitink
(2003) and Ali (1992) showed model results about an in-
dication of the resonance that may cause the dominance
of K1 tide in the Java Sea.
Tidal currents induce vertical mixing, particularly in
a shallow region. Hatayama et al. (1996) used the Simpson
index (Simpson et al., 1978) to analyze the role of tidal
currents in the intensification of vertical mixing in the
Indonesian seas. Similar to Schiller (2004), who used the
three-dimension model, Hatayama et al. (1996) discussed
an indication of tidal mixing in several shallow regions
including the Java Sea. However, since they focused on
the entire Indonesian sea, the particular phenomena con-
cerning diurnal and semi-diurnal propagation and its tur-
bulent quantities in the Java Sea need a more detailed
description and closer examination of their mechanisms.
The present paper combines recent in-situ measure-
ments with a three-dimensional primitive equation nu-
merical model to verify model performance by compar-
ing its results with observed elevation and currents. We
also aim to describe and map the major tidal constitu-
ents, and to examine the tidal circulation and its relation-
ship with turbulent mixing in the Java Sea. In addition,
the hydrographic data are used to reveal the structures of
temperature and salinity related to the tidal mixing.
The arrangement of this paper is as follows: we be-
gin Section 2 with an introduction of the hydrodynamic
model and discuss how it is driven at the open bounda-
ries by barotropic tides in the global model. Section 3
then describes the observations of coastal sea level and
currents, analyzing the barotropic tides by standard meth-
ods. The modeled tidal elevation of co-amplitude and co-
phase, and their comparison with the in-situ data for di-
urnal and semi-diurnal constituents are described in Sec-
tion 4, in which we also report a dedicated numerical ex-
periment on different tidal forcing at the open boundary
and nonlinear interactions among the constituents.
Modeled tidal current ellipses and their comparison with
field observations are described in Section 5. In order to
further describe the behavior of tidal propagation, we use
the model to calculate tidal energy of the main tidal con-
stituents, as well as their residual currents. Section 6 fo-
cuses on the contribution of the dominant constituent to
turbulent mixing. A summary and discussion are presented
in Section 7.
2. Hydrodynamic Model
This study of the tidal effect in the Java Sea is pre-
ceded by several numerical model studies regarding tides
of the Indonesian seas. Hatayama et al. (1996) applied a
global tidal equation to a two-dimensional hydrodynamic
model with 5′ by 5′ grid resolution. Their two-dimen-
sional, high resolution approach described tides and tidal
circulation on the entire Indonesian seas, with only a
moderate result compared to field observations, even us-
ing high resolution. The standard deviations for the M2
constituent between data and model are 13.71 cm and
22.12° for amplitude and phase, respectively. On the other
hand, the K1 constituent has standard deviations of 10.16
cm and 18.30° for amplitude and phase, respectively.
Since the bathymetric data are important in a regional
tidal model (Kantha and Clayson, 2000), their model had
a mean depth of the Java Sea less than 30 m and needed
improvement in bathymetry.
Another model was presented by Schiller (2004),
who used an ocean general circulation model with 0.5°
by 0.33° grid resolution. This coarse grid model underes-
timates tides measured at coastal tide gauge stations. On
the other hand, Setiawan (2000) reported an operational
three-dimensional model as part of the Seawatch program
of Indonesia. The model used 10′ by 10′ grid resolution
and covered the whole Sunda Shelf combined with the
Makassar Strait and Flores Sea. However, there is a dis-
crepancy between the model results and current data col-
lected from the Seawatch buoys, which may be due to the
coarse resolution of the model, which ignores detailed
bathymetry and the near-coastline to inter-channel loca-
tions of the buoys.
The most important input to a barotropic tidal model
for a small shallow region is the bottom topography
(Kantha and Clayson, 2000). Our model therefore uses a
relatively high resolution of 2′ by 2′ grid size. The
bathymetry adopted by the model is taken from the World
Ocean Topography Data (ETOPO2). However, this dataset
Modeling of Tidal Circulation and Mixing over the Java Sea 63
Table 2(a). Comparison of observed and modeled tidal elevation at reference sites forced by the eight tidal constituents (case F8).

Station Amplitude-H (cm) Phase-Ø (°G)

Observed Modeled ∆H Observed Modeled ∆Ø

O1
Belitung 1 ) 42 39.44 2.56 341.40 345.94 –4.54
Kota Waringin 1 ) 16 21.75 –5.75 131.40 246.27 –114.87
Sampit B. 1 ) 31 29.33 1.67 166.40 213.33 –46.93
Barito R. 1 ) 33 26.83 6.17 169.46 206.32 –36.86
Pari 2 ) 12.21 21.02 –8.81 8.89 (+360) 326.51 42.38
Jakarta3 ) 13.75 23.08 –9.33 25.32 (+360) 326.14 59.18
Cirebon 1 ) 5 27.51 –22.51 57.40 (+360) 277.12 140.28
Semarang 1 ) 8 26.83 –18.83 134.40 260.94 –126.54
Surabaya3 ) 14.85 25.99 –11.14 167.13 187.89 –20.76
Kali Anget 1 ) 24 23.67 0.33 161.40 167.71 –6.31
Meneng 2 ) 19.35 18.4 0.95 158.45 165.9 –7.45

K1
Belitung 1 ) 72 65.63 6.37 33.71 42.86 –9.15
Kota Waringin 1 ) 36 29.55 6.45 220.71 240.65 –19.94
Sampit B. 1 ) 60 66.13 –6.13 230.71 231.1 –0.39
Barito R. 1 ) 64 65.33 –1.33 219.67 236.30 –16.63
Pari 2 ) 21.29 29.40 –8.11 18.82 62.44 –43.62
Jakarta3 ) 25.17 31.37 –6.2 34.73 59.21 –24.48
Cirebon 1 ) 14 16.23 –2.23 302.71 309.32 –6.61
Semarang 1 ) 22 23.25 –1.25 247.71 267.35 –19.64
Surabaya3 ) 33.69 49.01 –15.32 204.35 213.24 –8.89
Kali Anget 1 ) 42 42.1 –0.1 193.71 198.09 –4.38
Meneng 2 ) 30.95 30.94 0.01 176.59 189.78 –13.19

M2
Belitung 1 ) 8 6.49 1.51 224.11 225.9 –1.79
Kota Waringin 1 ) 22 21.34 0.66 335.11 324.11 11
Sampit B. 1 ) 49 42.5 6.5 306.11 293.53 12.58
Barito R. 1 ) 34 28.24 5.76 279.13 291.93 –12.8
Pari 2 ) 1.76 4.76 –3 91.89 92.22 –0.33
Jakarta3 ) 5.41 7.26 –1.85 140.85 125.32 15.53
Cirebon 1 ) 16 16.69 –0.69 101.11 102.01 –0.9
Semarang 1 ) 10 10.11 –0.11 55.11 73.04 –17.93
Surabaya3 ) 35.04 43.90 –8.86 115.06 112.94 2.12
Kali Anget 1 ) 39 45.55 –6.55 111.11 106.82 4.29
Meneng 2 ) 45.88 45.1 0.78 77.54 70.98 6.56

S2
Belitung 1 ) 7 8.71 –1.71 175 173.05 1.95
Kota Waringin 1 ) 6 8.71 –2.71 266 313.68 –47.68
Sampit B. 1 ) 11 15.26 –4.26 203 271.39 –68.39
Barito R. 1 ) 5 13.25 –8.25 201 282.13 –81.13
Pari 2 ) 3.04 4.6 –1.56 54.74 89.44 –34.7
Jakarta3 ) 5.04 4.45 0.59 78.80 102.12 –23.32
Cirebon 1 ) 10 4.39 5.61 327 56.98 (+360) –89.98
Semarang 1 ) 8 3.91 4.09 307 24.33 (+360) –77.33
Surabaya3 ) 20.67 28.87 –8.2 123.69 120.34 3.35
Kali Anget 1 ) 19 26.43 –7.43 118 111.83 6.17
Meneng 2 ) 22.52 27.43 –4.91 111.18 96.82 14.36

64 A. F. Koropitan and M. Ikeda

Table 2(b). Comparison of observed and modeled tidal elevation at reference sites forced by the two tidal constituents (case F2).

Station Amplitude-H (cm) Phase-Ø (°G)

Observed Modeled ∆H Observed Modeled ∆Ø
K1
Belitung 1 ) 72 59.48 12.52 33.71 31.49 2.22
Kota Waringin 1 ) 36 28.39 7.61 220.71 227.55 –6.84
Sampit B. 1 ) 60 62.03 –2.03 230.71 218.26 12.45
Barito R. 1 ) 64 63.65 0.35 219.67 222.26 –2.59
Pari 2 ) 21.29 26.40 –5.11 18.82 41.43 –22.61
Jakarta3 ) 25.17 28.69 –3.52 34.73 38.76 –4.03
Cirebon 1 ) 14 16.64 –2.64 302.71 292.75 9.96
Semarang 1 ) 22 23.21 –1.21 247.71 254.60 –6.89
Surabaya3 ) 33.69 44.98 –11.29 204.35 201.41 2.94
Kali Anget 1 ) 42 38.18 3.82 193.71 186.27 7.44
Meneng 2 ) 30.95 28.09 2.86 176.59 177.87 –1.28

M2
Belitung 1 ) 8 6.63 1.37 224.11 222.90 1.21
Kota Waringin 1 ) 22 22.05 –0.05 335.11 320.60 14.51
Sampit B. 1 ) 49 45.42 3.58 306.11 290.25 15.86
Barito R. 1 ) 34 31.07 2.93 279.13 281.68 –2.55
Pari 2 ) 1.76 4.88 –3.12 91.89 91.68 0.21
Jakarta3 ) 5.41 7.36 –1.95 140.85 123.67 17.18
Cirebon 1 ) 16 19.07 –3.07 101.11 96.53 4.58
Semarang 1 ) 10 12.42 –2.42 55.11 69.76 –14.65
Surabaya3 ) 35.04 43.44 –8.4 115.06 109.72 5.34
Kali Anget 1 ) 39 45.44 –6.44 111.11 104.65 6.46
Meneng 2 ) 45.88 45.67 0.21 77.54 69.58 7.96

1)
Tidal constituents from Tide Table, DISHIDROS TNI-AL, Indonesia.
2)
Tidal constituents based on hourly data from UHSLC Hawaii (contributed by Center for Oceanological Research and
Development, Indonesia).
3)
Tidal constituents based on hourly data from UHSLC Hawai (contributed by BAKOSURTANAL, Indonesia).

is inaccurate in the central and coastal regions of the Java
Sea, and hence we corrected it by incorporating the
bathymetry chart of the Java Sea (map no. 66, edition
1991) from DISHIDROS TNI-AL (Hydro-Oceanographic
Division of Indonesian Navy). We set up a grid manually
in the naval charts, where the gridded data of ETOPO2
were adjusted with the charts. In this case, we just fo-
cused on the extreme value, which we found in the cen-
tral part and near-coastal region.
The hydrodynamic model used here is the Princeton
Ocean Model (POM), a three-dimensional, nonlinear,
primitive equation model with Boussinesq and hydrostatic
approximations (Blumberg and Mellor, 1987). POM has
been applied to many oceanic regions, and the most re-
cent tidal application to a regional model was reported in
detail by He and Weisberg (2002). Our model uses a Car-
tesian coordinate system in the horizontal and a sigma
coordinate system in the vertical. The model domain cov-
ers from 2°42′ to 8°14′ S and from 105°42′ to 114°42′ E
(Fig. 1). Along the vertical, the domain is divided into 21
unequal sigma levels (σ = 0 at the sea surface and –1 at
the sea bottom), with higher resolution near the bottom
to resolve the bottom boundary layer. The four sigma lay-
ers nearest the bottom are σ = –0.929, –0.964, –0.982,
and –0.991. Note that the bottom stress and friction ve-
locity in the present sigma coordinate model are calcu-
lated using the currents and the drag coefficients at the
lowest current level, which is depth-dependent. Bottom
stress is obtained by a quadratic drag law in which the
drag coefficient is calculated on the basis of a specified
(0.01 m) bottom roughness length. The model has a total
of 270 × 166 × 21 grid points, and the time step for the
external mode is 10 s.
In this study, water density is assumed to be homo-
geneous. The vertical eddy viscosity is computed using
the Mellor and Yamada (1982) level-2.5 turbulent clo-
sure scheme. The horizontal eddy viscosity is calculated
using the shear-dependent Smagorinsky formulation

Modeling of Tidal Circulation and Mixing over the Java Sea 65

 Table 3. The amplitude ratio between the principal diurnal and semi-diurnal tides, and tidal type.
Tide gauge stations Ratio of (O1 + K1 )/(M2 + S2 )
Belitung 7.60
Kota Waringin 1.86
Sampit 1.52
Barito 2.49
Pari 6.98
Jakarta 3.72
Cirebon 0.73
Semarang 1.67
Surabaya 1.30
Kali Anget 1.14
Meneng 0.74
(Smagorinsky, 1963) with a coefficient of 0.2. The tidal
forcing of the model is imposed at the open boundaries
facing the eastern part, the northern part at Karimata and
Gaspar Straits, and the western part at Sunda Strait. Tidal
elevations are specified by linear interpolation of the out-
put from the global tidal model ORI.96 with assimilated
TOPEX/Posseidon altimeter data (Matsumoto et al.,
1996). This barotropic model has 0.5° × 0.5° resolution
and provides eight tidal constituents (M2, S 2, N2, K2, K1,
O1, P 1, Q 1). As a special boundary in the narrow Bangka
Strait, there are no data in the global model, nor field
observations. Hence, we use a radiation boundary condi-
tion.
The case study is designed with several cases, as
summarized in Table 1. The particular objectives are to
test several numbers of tidal constituents for open bound-
ary forcing in order to understand the response of each
case under the nonlinear effects. Tidal elevation and cur-
rent were computed by integrating the model forward in
time. From an initial state of rest the basin is then sub-
jected to forcing of cases along the open boundaries. We
choose a 10-day spin-up period, which is judged to be
sufficient for the model to become independent of the
initial condition. The subsequent 60-day output is then
analyzed using harmonic analysis to retrieve the indi-
vidual constituent amplitude and phase distributions over
the model domain. Especially for the individual case of
K1 and M2 tides in Table 1, we analyzed the root-mean-
square (RMS) value over fifty tidal cycles, after the spin-
up period.
3. Observational Data
The observations were taken from eleven tide gauges
and seven current meter mooring buoys (Fig. 1). The
eleven tide gauges are referred to as Belitung (St. 1), Kota
Waringin (St. 2), Sampit (St. 3), Barito (St. 4), Pari Is-
land (St. 5), Jakarta (St. 6), Cirebon (St. 7), Semarang
(St. 8), Surabaya (St. 9), Kali Anget (St. 10) and Meneng
66 A. F. Koropitan and M. Ikeda
Tidal type
Diurnal
Mixed tide, mainly diurnal
Mixed tide, mainly diurnal
Mixed tide, mainly diurnal
Diurnal
Diurnal
Mixed tide, mainly semi-diurnal
Mixed tide, mainly diurnal
Mixed tide, mainly semi-diurnal
Mixed tide, mainly semi-diurnal
Mixed tide, mainly semi-diurnal
(St. 11). However, only four stations provide hourly tidal
elevation data records, namely: Pari Island, Jakarta,
Surabaya, and Meneng. The hourly data were taken from
the Joint Archive for Sea Level of the University of Ha-
waii, contributed by BAKOSURTANAL (National Coor-
dinating Agency for Surveys and Mapping, Indonesia) and
P2O-LIPI (Research Center for Oceanography, Indone-
sia). The other seven tide gauges predicted the amplitude
and phase of the four main tidal constituents O1, K1, M2
and S2. This information is available from the Tide Table
of Indonesian Archipelago 2003 provided by DISHIDROS
TNI-AL. The velocity data were taken from current me-
ters attached to around 2 m-depth buoys, which are trans-
mitted in real time to the ground station via satellite. The
seven buoys were deployed by the Agency for the As-
sessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), Indo-
nesia, in collaboration with Oceanor, Norway, and
Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia, through the
Indonesian Seawatch Program, 1996–2000.
The sea level data were analyzed using the least
squares method in MATLAB, referred to as the t_tide
program (Pawlowicz et al., 2002). This program is simi-
lar to the FORTRAN code described by Godin (1972),
Foreman (1977), and Foreman (1978). However, unlike
those authors, the t_tide program directly uses complex
algebra rather than dealing with sine and cosine separately.
The analysis includes as many as 146 possible tidal con-
stituents, 45 of them being astronomical in origin while
the remaining 101 are shallow water constituents.
The four tide gauges of Pari Island, Jakarta, Surabaya
and Meneng generally differed in terms of record length
and initial time. The records were collected at different
periods from 1984 and 1990. We generally used the en-
tire record length available at each site, which varied from
one to two years. Since Surabaya station is located in a
narrow passage of Madura Strait, we only consider the
observed tidal elevation with the low-frequency variations
removed (period of 27 hours). The tidal harmonic analy-
 Table 4. Description of the SEAWATCH hourly observed data.

Station Period Record length Gap numbers

(hours) (hours)
Tanjung Karawang (SW50) June 1997–May 1998 8760 366
Pluit (SW51) November 1996–February 1997 1607 225
Jepara (SW52) February–April 1998 1528 99
Bawean (SW53) November 1998 275 0
Masalembo (SW54) October–November 1998 322 0
P. Kelapa (SW55) November 1998–January 1999 1030 5
Indramayu (SW60) April–July 2000 1872 265

sis indicated that tides with eight principal constituents
(O1, K1, M2, S2, P1, Q 1, N2 and K2) explain about 71.4%,
83.0%, 82.2% and 90.1% of the total variance of the ob-
served tide gauges at Pari Island, Jakarta, Surabaya and
Meneng, respectively. If we consider the original data
record of Surabaya Station, the eight principal constitu-
ents explain 39% of the variance. This could be improved
to 45% by including as many tidal constituents as possi-
ble, such as the shallow water tidal constituents.
We focus on the four main tidal constituents (O1, K1,
M2 and S2) only. The amplitudes and phases (relative to
the Greenwich meridian) for the eleven tide gauge sta-
tions are summarized in Table 2(a). We note that the di-
urnal tides in the western and eastern parts are larger than
those in the central part, whereas the semi-diurnal tides
are larger in the eastern part of the Java Sea. The M2 tide
in particular peaks around the southern coast of
Kalimantan. The ratio between amplitudes of the princi-
pal diurnal and semi-diurnal tide constituents, (O1 + K1)/
(M2 + S2), and tidal type for the eleven tide gauge sta-
tions are shown in Table 3. The Java Sea tidal regime is
generally characterized as mixed tide having a main di-
urnal signal. Semi-diurnal tides mostly cover the south-
eastern part of the Java Sea.
Similar to sea level, the analysis of velocity data was
also conducted using the least squares method of the t_tide
program (Pawlowicz et al., 2002). The seven buoys were
generally not co-deployed, and the transmitting system
from the buoys to the ground station was sometimes shut
down due to weather disturbances. Furthermore, the tidal
current data were not collected during the same period
and their records varied from two weeks to one year (Ta-
ble 4).
The result of the harmonic analysis showed that the
overall observed tidal currents in the Java Sea vary be-
tween 13–61 cm/s. In this case, the analysis has included
as many tidal constituents as possible. In addition, these
tidal currents are faster near the coastline than the off-
shore regions. Among the principal constituents, K1 cur-
rent is the strongest, with the highest amplitude in the
central part (SW50) of the Java Sea. On the other hand,
M2 current is weaker. Its amplitude tends to increase in
the eastern and western parts of the Java Sea.
4. Modeled Tidal Elevation
4.1 Co-amplitude and co-phase
Figure 2 presents the co-amplitude and co-phase
charts of the modeled diurnal (O1 and K1) and semi-diur-
nal (M2 and S2) constituents, respectively. We used case
F8 for this application. In general, our simulation shows
that diurnal and semi-diurnal tides propagate westward
parallel to the closed boundary i.e., the northern coast of
Java and southern coast of Kalimantan. These tides are
then deflected to the northerly direction in the western
part of the Java Sea. Wyrtki (1961) reported that the diur-
nal tide from the Java Sea meets the wave from the South
China Sea in the Gaspar and Karimata Straits. Meanwhile,
the semi-diurnal tide penetrates further to the north and
merges in the west of Kalimantan Island with those from
the South China Sea. Especially for the M2 tide, Hatayama
et al. (1996) found similar behavior to that reported by
Wyrtki (1961).
Hence, we present the specific propagation of the
four tidal constituents and their specific responses, re-
lated to the dimension of Java Sea basin and bottom fric-
tion. The co-amplitude and co-phase of K1 tide show that
the tidal wave propagates slower and decreases its am-
plitude in the central part of the Java Sea. This is typical
of a standing wave. The phase difference between the
eastern and western parts is about 12 hours. Therefore,
when the flood condition occurs in the eastern part, the
ebb condition occurs in the western part and vice versa.
This phenomenon indicates a node in the central part and
antinodes in the eastern and western parts of the Java Sea,
supporting co-oscillation tides or a resonance effect. The
amplitudes and phases of co-oscillation tides depend on
the closeness of a resonance frequency to one of the tidal
frequencies. Since the Java Sea is nearly a rectangular
basin with a length of 950 km and a depth of 50 m, the
basin’s period of resonance is estimated to be 23.8 hours.
The period of the Java Sea basin is very close to the K1

Modeling of Tidal Circulation and Mixing over the Java Sea 67

 K1
O1
Fig. 2. Modeled co-amplitude and co-phase (relative to the Greenwich meridian) distribution for K 1, O 1, M2 and S2 tidal constitu-
ents, case F8. Solid (dashed) lines denote amplitude (phase) with contour intervals 15° and 30° for diurnal and semi-diurnal
tides, respectively.
constituent’s period of 23.9 hours, and is thus responsi-
ble for the resonance in the Java Sea. The node and
antinodes of the K 1 tide are also shown in the data-as-
similation results (Ray et al., 2005), where the position
of the zero degree phase is similar to the present one. Our
model result of co-oscillation tides is also similar with
those models of Hoitink (2003) and Ali (1992).
Similar to the K1 tide, the O1 tide shows a standing
wave in the western part caused by a solid boundary and
progressively deflected to the north through Karimata
Strait. A node region is clearly revealed in Karimata Strait,
caused by its narrow passage. However, the simulated O1
tide propagation does not resolve the same phenomenon
of resonance with the K1 tide, even though they are simi-
lar diurnal tides. The longer period of 25.8 hours may be
responsible for the O1 tide reaching further north.
The modeled semi-diurnal (M2 and S2) tides show
more progressive waves in the eastern part of the Java
Sea, standing waves in the western part caused by the
68 A. F. Koropitan and M. Ikeda
M2
S2
solid boundary and amplification in the southeast coast
of Kalimantan Island. Hence, the amplitudes increase up
to 40 cm and 15 cm for M2 and S 2 tides, respectively. The
M2 features are similar to those presented by Ray et al.
(2005). The effect of wave refraction in shallow water
(due to decreases in the propagation speed and the wave-
length) has an important role in the wave amplification.
The M2 tide presents a counterclockwise amphidromic
point near the Sunda Strait region, quite similar to that
reported by Ray et al. (2005). In this case, the westward
M2 tide meets with a penetrating wave from the Indian
Ocean via Sunda Strait.
Unlike M2, the S2 tide shows more complicated wave
propagation behavior due to the incoming wave through
Karimata and Sunda Straits. There are two amphidromic
points of the S2 tide. The first one is located near Karimata
Strait and is caused by the incoming S 2 tide through
Karimata Strait, where it meets with the progressive wave
from the eastern part of the Java Sea to produce a clock-
wise amphidromic point. The other one is an anticlock-
wise amphidromic, located near the east coast of Java Is-
land and Madura Island. The anticlockwise amphidromic
point is caused by the refraction effect due to interac-
tions between wave propagation from the southeastern
part and Madura Island. In general, the semi-diurnal tides
are smaller than the diurnal tides.
4.2 Case study with different tidal forcing
The present model is forced by tidal elevation at the
open boundary, so the boundary condition is the key to
the model results (Davies and Hall, 1998; Davies et al.,
2004). The main tidal constituents (K1 and M2) are more
reliable than the others (O1, K1, M2, S2, P1, Q1, N2, K2). If
the nonlinear effect of one constituent on others is treated
as negligible, we would be able to separate the effect of
each constituent. However, the Java Sea is small and shal-
low with complex bottom topography, so nonlinear ef-
fects may be important. Westerink et al. (1989) found that
secondary nonlinear interactions between the astronomi-
cal and the shallow water tides can significantly affect
overtides, compound tides and even astronomical tides.
In this section we take a closer look at the sensitivity of
K1 and M2 to the open boundary condition by investigat-
ing the three cases (F2, F4 and F8) shown in Table 1.
Table 2(a) provides comparisons of amplitudes and
phases between model results and observed elevations of
O1, K 1, M2 and S2 at the eleven coastal tide gauge sta-
tions, for case F8. Amplitude differences of all four con-
stituents are generally less than 10 cm, the exceptions
being Cirebon (O1 tide), Semarang (O1 tide) and Surabaya
(O1 and K1 tides). Most phase differences in M 2 are less
than 1 hour (or 28.98°). However, the other three con-
stituents have several stations with more than 1 hour de-
viations in phase, which are especially large in O1 and
S2. RMS values of phase differences of constituents O1,
K1, M2 and S2 are 72.79° (5 hours 13.33 min), 18.98° (1
hour 15.71 min), 9.89° (20.48 min) and 51.89° (1 hour
43.78 min), respectively. Comparative analyses showed
that M2 tide has better results while K1 tide seems to be
moderate.
The comparisons of amplitudes and phases for case
F4 (table not shown) are almost similar to case F8, espe-
cially for O1, M 2 and S 2. However, K1 tide is improved
with an RMS value of phase difference of 11.63° (46.41
min). There are two K1 tide stations which have a phase
difference of more than one hour (Pari Island and Jakarta),
and an amplitude difference of more than 10 cm (Belitung-
11.89 cm, Surabaya-11.72 cm).
The results of our experiment for case F2 are sum-
marized in Table 2(b). The M2 tide is almost similar to
the previous results for the other two cases. The analysis
shows the best results for the K 1 tide, which has a phase
difference of 9.31° (or 37.14 min). However, there are
still some discrepancies for the K1 tide; e.g., at Pari Is-
land the phase difference is more than 1 hour, while at
Belitung and Surabaya there is an amplitude difference
of more than 10 cm. The discrepancies in these stations
are difficult to avoid since they are located in very nar-
row passages. Both amplitude and phase differences have
equal positive and negative values, indicating that the
modeled tides are not biased.
Unlike coastal tide gauge data, tidal propagation over
the Java Sea shows a discrepancy in phase caused by the
different tidal forcing. We now focus on comparison be-
tween cases F8 and F2 for K1 and M2 tides. The K1 tide
shows that the central and western parts of the Java Sea
have a phase difference of about 1 hour, while the other
regions are below 1 hour. On the other hand, the M2 tide
shows a phase difference of about 1 hour in regions near
Sunda Strait at the western part and northern coast along
east Java and Madura Islands. Therefore, the sensitive
regions related to the different tidal forcing are affected
by the behavior of specific tidal constituents. In this case,
the K1 tide has a resonance effect or node region in the
central part and incident wave in the solid boundary of
the western part of the Java Sea. The M 2 tide has an
amphidromic point near Sunda Strait and another
amphidromic point is indicated near the northern coast
along east Java and Madura Islands.
In summary, the three cases of tidal forcing can be
used to explain the behavior of tidal elevation in the Java
Sea. However, we cannot justify any one of them due to
the limited observations available. The important point
is to determine what magnitude of tidal current will yield
tidal mixing and residual current. In the next section we
focus on whether there is any significant difference in
current magnitudes among these three cases.
5. Modeled Flow Pattern
5.1 Tidal currents
Since the results of the three cases F8, F4 and F2 are
fundamentally consistent with each other, we focus our
examination on tidal currents associated with K1 and M2
in case F2 and compare K1 between cases F2 and F8. Fig-
ure 3 compares the surface tidal current ellipses for the
K1 and M 2 tides, at the mooring buoy locations shown in
Fig. 1. In this figure, a line within each ellipse represents
the direction of a current vector at maximum flood tide,
and the arrow attached to the tip of this line indicates the
direction of the current vector rotation. Qualitatively, the
comparisons are most reasonable for both K1 and M 2 tidal
currents. There are two stations (SW51 and SW60) for
the calculated K1 tidal currents, and one station (SW54)
for the calculated M2 tidal current, which have opposite
semi-major axis to the observed data.
The differences between model results and the ob-
Modeling of Tidal Circulation and Mixing over the Java Sea 69
Fig. 3. Comparison between field observations (full line) and model results (dashed line) for K 1 and M2 tidal currents, case F2.
served semi-major axes of K 1 and M2 are in general less
than 10 cm/s. There are a few exceptions however; e.g. at
SW60 the difference is 20.59 cm/s for K1, and at SW55 it
is 13.53 cm/s for M2. The differences in semi-minor axes
of K 1 and M 2 are less than 3 cm/s. Inequality in orienta-
tion is generally less than 15° except at SW51, where it
is 138.28°, and at SW60, where it is 161.80° for K1, and
at SW54, where it is 73.74° for M2. On the other hand,
the phases of tidal ellipses do not agree well with the
observations. The calculated RMS values are 64.17° and
112.52° for K1 and M2, respectively. It is not, however,
surprising that the model should have such discrepancies
from observations since the moorings are located very
near the coastline or between small islands that were not
properly resolved by the model domain.
The calculated K1 tidal ellipses at the sea surface
(σ = 0) and the fifth level ( σ = –0.929) above the bottom
are shown in Fig. 4. At the surface (Fig. 4(a)) a nearly
rectilinear flow is found along the coast of southeast
Sumatra. Over the central part of the Java Sea the flow
patterns are more circular and nearly rectilinear towards
the Karimata Strait due to K1 tidal wave deflection. The
70 A. F. Koropitan and M. Ikeda
orientations of major axes of tidal ellipses almost con-
verge to the southern coast of Kalimantan. The spatial
pattern of tidal ellipses near the bottom (Fig. 4(b)) is simi-
lar to that of the surface, but the magnitude of the bottom
current is significantly reduced by bottom friction.
In general, the results of the model show that the
current magnitude of K1 near the surface varies between
10 and 60 cm/s. The calculated K1 tidal ellipses show
strong tidal currents in the central part (node region) and
narrow passages, where the maximum current magnitude
at the surface reaches 40–60 cm/s. The intensification of
K1 tidal current in the node region can be explained in
terms of a small elevation in the middle of the antinode
regions, thus triggering large currents. The intensifica-
tion of K1 tidal current in the central part is therefore
caused by the co-oscillation tides. Han (2000) found such
intensification in the Newfoundland shelf due to a reso-
nance between continental shelf wave and the K1 tide.
Pereira et al. (2002) also found similar intensification in
the southern Weddell Sea due to proximity of the critical
latitude for the M2 tide.
As shown and described earlier using Fig. 3, if the
 Fig. 3. (continued).
line is located on a semi-major axis, the maximum veloc-
ity occurs at the same phase as the maximum flood tide,
reflecting the characteristic of the progressive wave propa-
gation in the direction of the line. On the other hand, if
the line is located at the tip of a semi-minor axis, the ve-
locity change occurs in advance of elevation by a phase
of 90°, reflecting the feature of the standing wave in the
direction of the semi-major axis. In Fig. 4, K1 tidal el-
lipses are dominated by the standing wave in the western
and central parts and the progressive wave in the eastern
part of the Java Sea. The counterclockwise rotation is
dominant over the central part, while the clockwise rota-
tion occurs in the eastern and western regions.
Figure 4(c) shows the calculated M 2 tidal current
ellipses at the sea surface. We found that the M2 current
is in most cases weak compared to the K1 current. In gen-
eral, the magnitude of the M2 current varies between 3
and 10 cm/s, with the exception of the strong current at
the narrow passage of Madura Island, which is approxi-
mately 70 cm/s. Our model result is similar to those of
Hatayama et al. (1996) and Ray et al. (2005). At the east-
ern part, the M2 tidal ellipse orientation is consistent with
the maximum tidal current, reflecting the progressive
wave characteristics. On the other hand, the standing wave
is dominant in the western part.
Focusing now on the different cases of tidal forcing
at the open boundary, Fig. 5 shows the calculated K1 tidal
ellipses at the sea surface for case F8. In comparison with
case F2 (Fig. 4(a)), the model results have no significant
difference. Therefore case F2 presents a robust solution
for understanding the intensification of the K1 tidal cur-
rent in the central region of the Java Sea caused by the
resonance effect.
5.2 Tidal energy flow and residual current
In this simulation we analyze tidal energy flow and
its fate in relation to tidal dissipation. The residual cur-
rents induced by tides are also calculated since they can
transport materials over large distances. This analysis
considers both the dominant K1 and the less dominant
M2. The calculated tidal energy flow and residual cur-
rents are forced separately by each of these main tidal
constituents (Table 1). We follow Davies and Kwong
(2000), and Sheng and Wang (2004) in calculating the
Modeling of Tidal Circulation and Mixing over the Java Sea 71
 0.50 m/s

0.50 m/s

Fig. 5. Modeled K 1 tidal ellipse at the surface ( σ = 0) for case

F8. The bold (light) ellipses denote counterclockwise (clock-
wise) circulation.

tidally averaged (time mean) energy flux vectors (here-

after referred to as tidal energy). The formula is

 + v2 
( Ex , Ey ) = ρT0 ∫0T ∫−ηh (u, v)gη + u
2
 dzdt, (1)
 2 

where (Ex, Ey) are eastward and northward components

0.50 m/s
0.50 m/s
Fig. 4. Modeled K 1 tidal ellipse (a) at the surface, σ = 0; (b) at
a near-bottom level, σ = –0.929 and modeled M2 tidal el-
lipse; (c) at the surface, σ = 0 for case F2. The bold (light)
ellipses denote counterclockwise (clockwise) circulation.
of the energy flux vector, (u, v) are components of the
horizontal velocity vector, η is a surface elevation, ρ0 and
g denote the water density and the acceleration due to
gravity, respectively, h is a water depth, and T is the tide
period.
Figure 6 shows the tidal energy of the K 1 and M2
tides. The tidal energy patterns of K 1 and M2 are almost
similar along the westward direction. However, the tidal
energy inflow of M2 is very small compare to K1. The K1
tidal energy enters the Java Sea from the eastern part with
a magnitude of about 0.4 kW/m. When K1 tidal energy
passes the central part (node region), the energy dissi-
pates very quickly. This corresponds to the low tidal el-
evation of K1 in the node region. On the other hand, the
K1 tidal energy along the northern coast of Java Island is
able to penetrate the western region. Similar to K1 tidal
wave propagation, the K1 tidal energy shows an influx in
Gaspar Strait and outflux in Bangka Strait with a large
magnitudes of more than 0.5 kW/m. Small parts of the
tidal energy influx from Gaspar Strait join the tidal en-
ergy in the northern coast of Java Island and flow towards
Sunda Strait. The M2 tidal energy is also consistent with
its tidal wave propagation. However, the M2 tidal energy
dissipates in the whole Java Sea basin.
Next we calculate the depth-averaged residual flow

72 A. F. Koropitan and M. Ikeda

 K1 0.5 kW/m
M2 0.5 kW/m
Fig. 6. Time mean energy flux vectors of K1 and M2 tides cal-
culated from the model results over fifty tidal cycles.
(hereafter referred to as residual flow) from the model
results using each of K1 and M2 tidal forcings (Table 1),
as shown in Fig. 7. The K1 residual flow shows a very
complicated flow pattern in the western part with a mag-
nitude of about 4 cm/s. Strong currents are found in the
narrow passages and several capes with a maximum mag-
nitude of 10 cm/s. The crowded residual flow pattern is
probably caused by the incident waves of K1 tide at the
solid boundary of Sumatra. At the central part, the K1
residual flow follows the co-amplitude pattern of K1 tide
where the water column moves from the high amplitude
in Karimata Strait to the small amplitude in the node re-
gion. Finally, the K1 residual flow deflects towards the
eastern part with a magnitude of about 0.2 cm/s.
Compared to K1 residual flow, the M2 residual flow
is generally stronger, except in the western Java Sea. The
M2 residual flow shows a clear northwestward flow pat-
tern with a magnitude of about 0.7 cm/s. Incoming and
outgoing residual flow located at the southeastern sec-
K1 5 cm/s
M2 5 cm/s
Fig. 7. Depth integrated residual flow calculated from the model
results forced by K1 and M 2 tidal elevation over fifty tidal
cycles.
tion and the narrow passages of Karimata/Gaspar Straits,
respectively, have large magnitudes of more than 10
cm/s. In general the M2 residual flow follows along its
tidal wave propagation.
Following Kantha and Clayson (2000), we consider
a uniform channel of shallow water depth H, with a tidal
current amplitude U and tidal elevation amplitude η. This
configuration is such that the ratio (η/H) is not negligi-
ble. The transport is proportional to U(H + η) during the
flood phase and to U(H – η) during the ebb phase. When
averaged over a full tidal cycle there is therefore a net
transport proportional to 2Uη and a residual flow of mag-
nitude 2Uη/H in the direction of propagation. In contrast,
we found that the K1 residual flow is mainly opposite to
its tidal wave propagation which comes from the eastern
part. Therefore, the role of co-oscillations tide is impor-
tant for the residual flow pattern of the K1 tide in the Java
Sea. Here, the residual flow is not in the direction of pro-
Modeling of Tidal Circulation and Mixing over the Java Sea 73

Fig. 8. RMS value of bottom friction velocity (cm/s) for K1
tide calculated from the model results over fifty tidal cy-
cles.
gressive wave propagation but follows the reflected wave.
The K 1 residual flow is minor compared with the M2 re-
sidual flow, and hence the role of K1 residual flow in
material transport is not crucial. The present simulated
M2 residual flow pattern is consistent with that of Schiller
(2004), who calculated the Java Sea residual current based
on a long term calculation (eight model years) forced by
the eight main tidal constituents. The residual flow pat-
tern in the Java Sea seems to form a part of what he called
the “residual western boundary current” all along the
coastline of the Asian landmass.
6. Tidal Mixing
In this section we closely examine the calculated tur-
bulence mixing using bottom stress with a quadratic drag
law. The calculated turbulence mixing is forced separately
by each of the two main tidal constituents, K1 and M2
(Table 1). The spatial variations of K1 and M2 bottom fric-
tion velocities reflect the spatial variations in the tidal
current magnitude (Fig. 8, M 2 is not shown). The bottom
friction velocities for K1 and M2 tides near the eastern
open boundary and western solid boundary are mostly
within 1–2 cm/s. Regions with larger K1 bottom friction
velocity are associated with the stronger K1 tidal currents
in the central part of the Java Sea and narrow passages.
In particular, the range of K1 bottom friction velocity in
the central part varies within the range of 3–6 cm/s, while
that of M2 is about one-tenth of K1.
Given the bottom friction velocity, we can estimate
the thickness of the bottom boundary layer or Ekman layer
thickness. We follow He and Weisberg (2002) to estimate
the Ekman layer thickness (δ ) for steady-state flow re-
gimes; that is
74 A. F. Koropitan and M. Ikeda
(a)
(b)
Fig. 9. RMS value of vertical eddy viscosity (m2/s) for K1 tide
calculated from the model results over fifty tidal cycles at
(a) ten meter depth and (b) cross section along 4°S.
cu*
δ = , (2 )
(σ + f )
where u∗ is the bottom friction velocity, σ is tidal fre-
quency of each of K1 and M2, f is the local Coriolis pa-
rameter and c = 0.1–0.4 (Loder and Greenberg, 1986).
The friction velocity u∗ is obtained as (τb/ ρ0)1/2. There-
fore, the distribution pattern of the bottom boundary layer
thickness is similar to the bottom friction velocity (fig-
ure not shown). Using a low range value of c = 0.1, the
thickness of K1 over the central part of the Java Sea is
estimated to be about 45–60 m, and all the narrow pas-
sages to be about 120 m. In general, the thickness of K1
for the whole Java Sea bottom layer is about 20–30 m.
However, the thickness for M2 is about one-tenth of K1
in the central part and one-third of K1 near the eastern
open boundary and western solid boundary. The smaller
value of M2 is related to its tidal frequency in the de-
nominator of Eq. (2). Consequently, tidal mixing alone
seems sufficient to mix the water column, especially in
the central region of the Java Sea.
The height of the log-layer thickness can be estimated
using 0.1δ (Soulsby, 1983; He and Weisberg, 2002). Based
 Track 1
Fig. 10. Hydrographic data profile during southeast monsoon (October 1993), track 1.
on values of the bottom boundary layer thickness, the
mean K1 log-layer thickness over the Java Sea is esti-
mated to be 2–3 m, while the central part and the narrow
passages have greater log-layer thicknesses, in the range
of 4.5–6.0 m.
Since we are concerned with the role of tidal mixing
in vertical exchange of nutrients for future research, we
analyze the vertical eddy viscosity using the level-2.5
turbulent closure scheme in Mellor and Yamada (1982).
Similarly to the bottom friction velocity, we calculated
the RMS value of vertical eddy viscosity using the same
method (Table 1). In this simulation we only consider the
K1 tide due to the large bottom boundary layer thickness
compared to the M2 tide. Figure 9(a) shows the horizon-
tal distribution of the vertical eddy viscosity at 10 m depth.
Related to the effect of K1 tidal resonance, the vertical
eddy viscosity also shows intensification in the central
part of the Java Sea and varies within 0.01–0.02 m2/s.
A simple z-dependent mixing length, lz, is proposed
as
z 1/ 2
lz = κz1 −  , (3)
 h
where κ = 0.4 is von Kármán’s constant, h is the total
water depth and z is the height above the bottom (Simpson
et al., 1996). Figure 9(b) shows the vertical profile of the
vertical eddy viscosity along 4°S over the Java Sea. The
vertical profile is nearly parabolic, which is consistent
with the simple z-dependent mixing length. The vertical
profile is also consistent with the horizontal distribution
which shows an intensification of tidal mixing in the cen-
tral part of the Java Sea. The maximum vertical eddy vis-
cosity in the central part is 0.025 m2/s. We have no direct
observations to verify the calculated vertical eddy
viscosities, particularly the large values in the central part.
As an analogy, we refer to the observed vertical eddy vis-
cosity in a tidal channel reported by Lu et al. (2000). The
width and depth of the channel are around 1 km and 30
m, respectively. The observed tidal current at mid-depth
Modeling of Tidal Circulation and Mixing over the Java Sea 75
 Track 2
Fig. 11. Hydrographic data profile during southeast monsoon (October 1993), track 2.
varied within 25–100 cm/s. They found that the observed
vertical eddy viscosity at mid-depth varied within 0.001–
1 m2/s, with a mean value of about 0.01 m2/s. Thus, our
model results are reasonable in comparison to the other
field observations.
7. Summary and Discussion
We have applied the barotropic model combined with
the field observations to examine the structures of
barotropic tides, tidal circulation and their relationship
to turbulent mixing in the Java Sea. In general, the simu-
lated tidal elevations for the K1 and M2 constituents are
in good agreement with in-situ observations, while the
O1 and S 2 constituents show notable discrepancies. The
features of K1 and M2 tides are also similar to previous
reports by Wyrtki (1961), Hatayama et al. (1996), Ray et
al. (2005), Hoitink (2003) and Ali (1992). The calculated
tidal currents are mostly reasonable compared with in-
situ observations, within observational limitations.
Based on comparison between model and observa-
76 A. F. Koropitan and M. Ikeda
tions, we found that the discrepancies in tidal elevation
are related to the inaccuracies of tidal forcing input along
the open boundaries and their nonlinear interactions with
other constituents. This was also conclusion of other re-
searchers, concerned with other basins, e.g. Westerink et
al. (1989); Davies and Hall (1998); and Davies et al.
(2004). For case F8, some discrepancies in phase of the
K1 tide were noted at several stations. In this study we do
not focus on the specific effects of changes in tidal forc-
ing due to a lack of tidal elevation data along the open
boundaries and offshore regions. In addition, compari-
son among the three cases over the Java Sea showed that
the amplitude differences are mostly below 7 cm. Model
results regarding tidal current do not diverge greatly
among these three cases. We can therefore use any of these
cases to describe the tidal circulation and turbulent mix-
ing in the Java Sea.
Our model can explain the dominance of the diurnal
tide constituent K1 over the Java Sea, while the adjacent
deep Pacific and Indian Oceans are dominated by semi-
 Track 1
Fig. 12. Hydrographic data profile during northwest monsoon (February/March 1994), track 1.
diurnal components. The previous researches of Wyrtki
(1961) and Ray et al. (2005) explained that, unlike the
diurnal wave, the semi-diurnal wave is weak when it
propagates to the Java Sea. The present study, on the other
hand, clearly shows a resonance effect that increases the
amplitude of K1 in the Java Sea, as suggested by Hoitink
(2003) and Ali (1992). This resonance is related to tidal
current, tidal energy and residual current. For example,
the intensification of tidal current in the node region is
influenced by the existence of the tidal resonance, such
that it can enhance the K1 tidal current in the Java Sea. In
addition, the resonance effect produces unusual patterns
of the tidal energy flux and residual currents. Tidal en-
ergy dissipation is not found in shallower parts but mainly
in the node region, so that the bottom friction does not
significantly affect the tidal energy flux of the Java Sea.
Meanwhile, the residual current usually follows the tidal
wave propagation but the role of tidal resonance could
change the residual current pattern to follow the reflected
wave in the opposite direction.
While the M2 tide is a secondary tide, its residual
flow makes a major contribution, especially in the east-
ern and central regions of the Java Sea. The magnitude
associated with M2 tide is higher than the K1 tide, and the
M2 tide is connected with the long term residual flow in
the Indonesian seas, as suggested by Schiller (2004).
Hence, the major progressive waves of the M2 tide from
the adjacent sea (Flores Sea) through the open boundary
are responsible for its residual flow. However, we sug-
gest that the dissipation of the M2 tide is mainly caused
by the relatively shallow topography of the Java Sea com-
pared to the adjacent seas.
The calculated turbulent mixing quantities in the Java
Sea revealed the important role of mixing in the region.
The estimated tidal bottom boundary layer (Ekman layer
thickness) significantly exceeds the water depth due to
the strong tidal current, especially in the central part. An
exception is found in the deeper eastern part. The inter-
action between a strong tidal current and high tidal bot-
tom boundary layer is also found in other regions by us-
Modeling of Tidal Circulation and Mixing over the Java Sea 77
 Track 2
Fig. 13. Hydrographic data profile during northwest monsoon (February/March 1994), track 2.
ing similar methods, e.g. the region between the Kintyre
peninsula and the coast of Ireland (Davies et al., 2004).
In these regions, the calculated bottom boundary layer
can exceed 300 m, where water depths are only around
100 m. The Ekman layer thickness is the key to the strati-
fication and the transition region (tidal front) between
stratified and well-mixed conditions. Consider theoreti-
cally, if the main tidal turbulent boundary layer (in this
case is K 1 tide) exceeds the water depth, the water col-
umn should remain well mixed.
In order to verify the intensification of tidal mixing
in the central part, we used the hydrographic data from
the AARD/ORSTOM Java Sea Small Pelagic Fisheries
Assessment Project 1992–1995 (Durand and Petit, 1997;
Pasaribu et al., 2004). As a part of Southeast Asian wa-
ters, the Indonesian seas are mostly under the monsoon
system with dry and rainy seasons during southeast and
northwest monsoons, respectively. We therefore focused
on the data taken between October 8 to 21, 1993 (end of
southeast monsoon) and February 21, 1994 to March 6,
78 A. F. Koropitan and M. Ikeda
1994 (strong northwest monsoon). During the southeast
monsoon, track 1 (Fig. 10) and track 2 (Fig. 11) show
that the front appeared at around 110°E and 111°E, and
the well-mixed water column extended eastward from the
front. The existence of the front supports the model re-
sults on tidal mixing intensification in the central part of
the Java Sea. When the strong northwest monsoon blows,
the front at track 1 (Fig. 12) became wider and showed a
freshwater penetration from the Sunda shelf at the sur-
face layer due to river discharge in the rainy season
(Wyrtki, 1961). Meanwhile, the front at track 2 (Fig. 13)
became weak and was pushed upward until around 113°E
where the freshwater still appeared in the western part.
Thus, the intensification of tidal mixing caused by reso-
nance may play an important role, even under the strong
monsoon in the central Java Sea. Related to the environ-
mental problems, the intensification of tidal mixing in
the central part could play an important role in vertical
exchange of nutrients and control of biological produc-
tivity.
 We realize that our model has some limitations that
may qualify our strong conclusion on tidal mixing. The
important terms may be stratification and baroclinic flow
(internal tides) from Flores Sea, which induce vertical
mixing, as pointed out by Robertson and Ffiled (2005).
Related to the tidal currents, these model results still need
more accurate quantitative estimates. Therefore, a higher
horizontal resolution is required, especially to resolve
some small islands. Improved performance can also be
obtained through more accurate bathymetry.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Dr. Hary Budiarto and Ms. Ressy
Oktivia of the Seawatch Program, BPPT Indonesia for
providing the hourly current data and Mr. Duto Nugroho
of Research Institute for Marine Fisheries, Ministry of
Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia for providing the
hydrographic data. We also thank Dr. Agus Setiawan of
BPPT for sharing the code of harmonic analysis embed-
ded in the POM, as well as English proofreading by
Takayoshi Ikeda. Comments from two anonymous review-
ers were also very helpful in improving the manuscript.
The first author is awarded a scholarship by Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
(MEXT), Japan.
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