A coastal acoustic tomography (CAT) experiment for mapping the tidal currents in the Zhitouyang Bay was successfully carried out with seven acoustic stations during July 12 to 13, 2009. The horizontal distributions of tidal current in the tomography domain are calculated by the inverse analysis in which the travel time differences for sound traveling reciprocally are used as data. Spatial mean amplitude ratios M2 : M4 : M6 are 1.00 : 0.15 : 0.11. The shallow-water equations are used to analyze the generation mechanisms of M4 and M6. In the deep area, velocity amplitudes of M4 measured by CAT agree well with those of M4 predicted by the advection terms in the shallow water equations, indicating that M4 in the deep area where water depths are larger than 60 m is predominantly generated by the advection terms. M6 measured by CAT and M6 predicted by the nonlinear quadratic bottom friction terms agree well in the area where water depths are less than 20 m, indicating that friction mechanisms are predominant for generating M6 in the shallow area. Dynamic analysis of the residual currents using the tidally averaged momentum equation shows that spatial mean values of the horizontal pressure gradient due to residual sea level and of the advection of residual currents together contribute about 75% of the spatial mean values of the advection by the tidal currents, indicating that residual currents in this bay are induced mainly by the nonlinear effects of tidal currents.
