Study of Current Profile in the Khuran Channel using ADCP Measurements

Thirteen repetitions of a cross-channel transect in the Khuran Channel within the Strait of Hormuz allowed the description of the mean flow and semidiurnal tidal properties of a north-south transect. Water velocity profiles were obtained with a 614.4 kHz TRDI Work Horse Broadband ADCP along this 3.3 km long transect on 10 October 2014, the third day of secondary spring tide. The M2, M4 and M6 frequencies were separated from the observed current using sinusoidal least squares regression analysis. The semidiurnal tidal currents along this transect exhibited typical amplitudes of 160-170cm/s, decreasing toward coastal waters. The mean flow which confirmed the occurrence of asymmetry between ebb and flood phase of tidal current in Khuran Channel were ebb dominant in the deeper part of the channel and southern slopes and flood dominant over the shallower areas, with greatest magnitudes (10 cm/s) near the surface mainly in the deeper parts of the northern side of the channel. The tidal current amplitudes decreased and for the most with depth and followed the bathymetry particularly in the middle of channel, which reveals the dominants of frictional forces. The large overtide amplitude is as a result of nonlinearities that were produced by increased frictional effects that lead to the asymmetry between ebb and flood phase of tidal current in this channel.