Accepted Article Confidential manuscript submitted to JGR-Oceans Semidiurnal Internal Tide Incoherence in the Equatorial Pacific Maarten C. Buijsman 1 , Brian K. Arbic 2 , James G. Richman 3 , Jay F. Shriver 4 , Alan J. Wallcraft 4 , and Luis Zamudio 3 1 Department of Marine Science, University of Southern Mississippi, Stennis Space Center, MS, USA. 2 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. 3 Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA 4 Oceanography Division, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS, USA Key Points: • The equatorial jets in the Pacific Ocean decohere equatorward propagating semidi- urnal internal tides • The time-variable vertical shear flow and stratification cause incoherence on differ- ent time scales • The equatorial jets do not cause increased internal tide dissipation in a 1/12.5 ◦ global ocean model Corresponding author: Maarten C. Buijsman, maarten.buijsman@usm.edu –1– This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version record. Please cite this article as doi:10.1002/2016JC012590. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.