Towards a detailed knowledge of the world ocean tides: The example of the Kerguelen Plateau

A zoom view of a solution of the M 2 tide, computed over the whole Indian Ocean, and focusing on the Kerguelen Plateau, is presented to illustrate the extent of detail and accuracy which can be expected from solutions produced by a global ocean tide model based on Finite Element methods developed by the authors. The characteristics of the M 2 tide as revealed by this solution are in good agreement with the observations available around Kerguelen island, and explain the phase differences of more than 40 degrees observed between the two sides of the western part of this island which, until now, has been unexplained. For the M 2 tide, this results from the presence of a one‐node axisymetric standing wave, with a real amphidromic point on the north western side of the plateau, which is due to the combination of two waves, one coming directly from the ocean to the West, and the other propagating counterclockwise on the shelf around the island.