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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-2713</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Local dissipation efficiency of internal tides at key topographic features in the South China Sea</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yuan</surname>
<given-names>Zuqing</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sun</surname>
<given-names>Hui</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9141-1080</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yang</surname>
<given-names>Qingxuan</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4699-3872</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Han</surname>
<given-names>Fenyuan</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Jianing</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>State Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Laboratory for Ocean Dynamics and Clinate, Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Center, Qingdao, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>These authors contributed equally to this work.</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>01</day>
<month>06</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>20</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Zuqing Yuan et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2713/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2713/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2713/egusphere-2026-2713.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2713/egusphere-2026-2713.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>The local dissipation efficiency of internal tides, &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt;, is a critical parameter in tidal mixing parameterizations. However, the conventionally adopted constant value (&lt;em&gt;q &lt;/em&gt;&amp;asymp; 0.3) in large-scale ocean models neglects its significant spatiotemporal variability. Based on the MITgcm LLC4320 simulation, the internal tidal energy budgets at the Luzon Strait (a source region, LS) and the Nansha Islands (a sink region, Nansha) in the South China Sea (SCS) are analyzed. Results indicate that the barotropic-to-baroclinic energy conversion in the LS reaches approximately 45 GW, with semidiurnal constituents accounting for roughly 60 %, due to the resonance over the double-ridge topography. The value of &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt; in the LS fluctuates between 0.3 and 0.7, primarily modulated by the high-mode local dissipation. Local internal tide generation around the Nansha Islands is less than 1.5 GW; however, this region experiences significant convergence of internal tidal energy flux, which elevates the value of &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt; to generally greater than 1 and occasionally exceeding 2.5. Modal analysis confirms that the intensified dissipation over the Nansha Islands originates predominantly from topographic scattering and breaking of mode-1 internal tides from the far field. Parameterizations for &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt; are developed based on both physical factors and data-driven algorithms, both of which successfully capture the macroscopic clustering of &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt;. In the LS, &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt; is modulated by near-field factors such as the barotropic tidal forcing and the local dissipation of high-mode internal tides. Conversely, &lt;em&gt;q&lt;/em&gt; around the Nansha Islands is primarily contributed by mode-1 internal tidal energy coming from the far field, highlighting the jointly modulation of local extreme dissipation by far-field beam interference and nonlinear topographic scattering.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
<award-id>42376012</award-id>
<award-id>42506011</award-id>
<award-id>42076012</award-id>
<award-id>42006012</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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