Evidence of coastal Seiche excitation by tide‐generated internal solitary waves

Abstract

Coastal seiches at Magueyes Island, Puerto Rico, occur in distinct fortnightly groups with maximum seiche activity following new and full moon by 7 days. The size of the fortnightly groups depends upon the amplitude of the preceding spring tide and upon the Caribbean surface water temperature. Temperature records from the upper thermocline on the slope seaward of the shelf edge off Magueyes Island indicate the arrival of semidiurnal packets of negative internal solitary waves. We suggest that these internal waves are generated by tides in the southeastern Caribbean Sea and that they are responsible for exciting the coastal seiches. This hypothesis is supported by the characteristics of coastal seiching at Puerto Princesa on Palawan Island in the Philippines which indicate excitation by the Sulu Sea internal waves reported by Apel, Holbrook and Tsai (1980).