Accuracy Comparison for the Ocean Tide Models in Estuarine Tidal Prediction, the Pearl River Estuary

Ocean tide models with satellite altimetry can simulate global ocean tides conveniently and accurately. However, it was not sure for them to have a same good performance in estuaties and coastal zones. To assess their accuracy in the Pearl River estuaries, tidal elevations were computed respectively by three models NAO.99b, OTPS and WWT, and compared with the hourly observed data. RMS misfits were calculated and the results suggest that the models are competent to demonstrate the basic time features of tides and the accuracy is not lower than that of traditional methods in some certain periods and areas. The models behave better in the mouth zones, especially in the open area outside, but in the upstreams have differences between dry season and flood season. At the entrances, compared with the river-dominated estuary, the models indicate more accurate estimations for the tide-dominated estuaries. WWT is recommended among these three models.