Three-dimensional internal tide generation over isolated seamounts in a rotating ocean

Internal tides may cause a significant fraction of the diapycnal mixing required to maintain the meridional overturning circulation. Accurately understanding their generation in order to better represent it in global circulation models is therefore a critical step in improving climate science. To that effect, we introduce a boundary element method to solve the three-dimensional problem of internal tide generation over arbitrary isolated seamounts in a uniformly stratified finite-depth fluid with background rotation, without assumptions on the size or slope of the topography. We apply the model to the generation of internal tides by a unidirectional barotropic tide interacting with an axisymmetric Gaussian seamount. We qualitatively recover previously-derived two-dimensional results, including the documentation of topographies with weak energy conversion rates. Furthermore, our results reveal the previously underestimated influence of the Coriolis frequency on the wavefield and on the spatial distribution of radiated energy flux. Due to Coriolis effects, the energy fluxes are shifted slightly counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere. We explain how this shift increases with the magnitude of the Coriolis frequency and the topographic features and why such effects are absent in models based on the weak topography assumption. Finally, we validate and discuss these semi-analytical results with the help of Large Eddy Simulations.