Tide and Wave

Nature Gallery (Earth - Ocean)
Tides and Waves

Tides
Anyone who has visited a beach can understand

the importance of tides. At low tide, beach-goers
can walk along the exposed shoreline or
construct sandcastles; high tide brings water
further up the beach, washing away the castles
and forcing people to higher ground.
In the world of commerce, tides are vitally

important to the shipping and fishing industries.
Navigators of heavy freighters heading for
shallow ports must schedule their arrival for high
tide, when the water is deepest. Fishing boats
are also subject to the ebb and flow of tides.
Predicting these changes is an essential aspect
of maritime travel, and highly detailed tide tables
are available for almost allcoastal areas.
Lunar Tides
The gravitational pull of the moon and the sun on the Earth’s oceans is the major force
involved in the creation of tides. Because the moon is much closer to the Earth than
the sun, it has more gravitational attraction. When the moon is directly over a given
point on the Earth’s surface, it exerts a powerful pull on the water there, which
consequently rises above its normal level.
At the same time, the water covering the part of the Earth that is most distant from
the moon bulges outwards as a result of the centrifugal force of the revolving Earth-
moon system. This is the same force that pulls a child away from the centre of a
revolving merry-go-round. The Earth-moon system revolves around a common centre,
which is similar to the centre of a merry-go-round. A child close to the outer edge of a
merry-go-round is pulled outwards more than one near the centre. Likewise, as the
Earth revolves around the common centre of the Earth-moon system, the area furthest
from the moon is subject to the greatest centrifugal force. As a result, the waters on
that side swell outwards.
This means there are always two high-water areas on the Earth at any given time: the
area under the moon and the area opposite the moon. Low tides exist in the areas
between these high-tide bulges.
Low and high waters alternate in a continuous cycle. High tides move with the moon as
it revolves around the Earth. At most shores throughout the world, two high tides and
two low tides occur every lunar day, which is the time it takes for the moon to return
to a point on the Earth—about 24 hours and 50 minutes. Thus, a typical seaport will
alternate between high and low tides about every 6 hours. Some coasts, such as the
shores along most of Antarctica, experience only one high tide and one low tide each
lunar day. These variations in the tidal cycles occur because of several factors,
including topography and latitude.
The difference in height between high and low tides is called the range of tide. The
greatest tides in the world occcur in the Bay of Fundy, a large, funnel-shaped inlet of
the North Atlantic Ocean that separates the Canadian provinces of New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The Bay of Fundy divides into two arms: Chignecto Bay to
the north, and Minas Basin to the south. The funnel effect on the water in these
narrowing arms increases the tidal range of the bay: the water may rise by as much as
15 metres (50 feet). At Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Canada spectacular
inundations occur over the course of a few hours.
Solar Tides
Like the moon, the sun exerts a gravitational pull

on the Earth but, because it is so far away, has a
tide-raising force of only about half that of the
moon. The sum of the forces exerted by the
moon and the sun creates a tide with two crests.
Where these extremes occur depends on the
relative positions of the sun and moon at the
time. During the periods of new and full moon—
when the sun, moon, and Earth are directly in
line—the solar and lunar tides coincide. This
alignment results in aspring tide, when the high
tide is higher than usual, and the low tide is
lower than usual. When the moon is in its first or
third quarter, it is at right angles to the sun
relative to the Earth, and water is subject to the
opposing forces of the sun and moon. This
produces a neap tide, with a lower than normal
high tide and higher than normal low tide.
Tidal Currents and Bores
Accompanying the vertical rise and fall of water are various horizontal or lateral
movements commonly known as tidal currents or tidal streams. When the high tide is
moving in, a tidal current known as the flood current flows towards the shore for about
six hours. At high tide, the current reverses and flows away from shore. This is the ebb
current.
At low tide about six hours later, the current reverses again. The exact times may vary
depending on local conditions. During the period of reversal, the water is in a state of
rest or calm, known as slack water. Like the cyclical tides, these reversing currents are
important to seagoing vessels. Ships entering a river’s mouth, heading for
an upstream port, receive a boost from a flood current.
When a large volume of water from a flood current accumulates in the mouth of a
funnel-shaped river or estuary more rapidly than it can flow upstream, a crested wave,
or bore, gradually forms and rushes up the channel. The highest bores in the world
reach heights of more than 4.5 metres (15 feet). Notable bores occur at the mouths of
the Qiantang Jiang estuary on the Hangzhou Wan in China, of thePetitcodiac River in
the Bay of Fundy, of the River Severn of the United Kingdom, and of
the Amazon in Brazil. During a spring tide, the Amazon’s bore may travel 650
kilometres (400 miles) upstream at a speed of over 65 kilometres per hour (40 miles
per hour).
Tidal Energy
The energy from tides has been harnessed to produce electricity. In 1966 a tidal power
plant with a capacity of 240,000 kilowatts went into operation in
northwestern France on the Rance River, an estuary of the English Channel. The
incoming tide of the river flows through adam near the city of Saint-Malo, driving
turbines, and then is trapped behind the dam. When the tide ebbs, the trapped water
is released and flows back through the dam, again driving the turbines. Such tidal
powerplants are most efficient if the difference between high and low tides is great, as
in the Rance estuary, where the tidal range is 8.5 metres (28 feet).
Waves
Waves are generated by winds. Strong winds create rough waters, and light winds
cause the water to be more calm. During storms, violent winds create storm surges
that can temporarily raise the sea level in low-lying areas and cause serious flood
damage to coastal villages.
Waves are the most significant erosive force along coasts. Wave action constantly
batters shorelines, causing the erosion of beach sands and the undercutting of cliffs.
Over time, waves sculpt caves in the sides of outcroppings, and these deepen until the
outcroppings become distanced from the shore. The resulting rocky promontories, such
as those in the Algarve region of southern Portugal, are called sea stacks.
Tides and waves also affect river deltas by transporting sediment along the shore or

out to sea. Wave action, under certain conditions, creates sandbars and spits along
coastlines.

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Nature Gallery (Earth - Ocean)

Tides and Waves

Anyone who has visited a beach can understand

In the world of commerce, tides are vitally

Like the moon, the sun exerts a gravitational pull

Tides and waves also affect river deltas by transporting sediment along the shore or

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