Tides reviewed by: John Luick Tides are long waves, either progressing or standing.

The dominant period usually is 12 hours 25 minutes, which is 1 2 o! a lunar day. Tides are generated by the gravitational potential o! the moon and the sun. Their propagation and amplitude are in!luenced by !riction, the rotation o! the earth "#oriolis !orce$, and resonances determined by the shapes and depths o! the ocean basins and marginal seas. The most obvious e%pression o! tides is the rise and !all in sea level. &'ually important is a regular change in current speed and direction( tidal currents are among the strongest in the world ocean. Description of tides

)igh water: a water level ma%imum "*high tide*$ Low water: a water level minimum "*low tide*$ +ean Tide Level: the mean water level, relative to a re!erence point "the *datum*$ when averaged over a long time Tidal range: the di!!erence between high and low tide ,aily ine'uality: the di!!erence between two successive low or high tides -pring tide: the tide !ollowing !ull and new moon .eap tide: the tide !ollowing the !irst and last 'uarter o! the moon phases.

The result o! alternate spring and neap tides is a hal! monthly ine'uality in tidal heights and currents. /ts period is 10.11 days, which is hal! the synodic month. "-ynodic: related to the same phases o! a planet or its satellites. 2 synodic period or synodic month is thus the time that elapses between two successive identical phases. /n tidal theory synodic always re!ers to the moon, so a synodic month is the time that elapses between successive identical phases o! the moon, !or e%ample between successive new moons.$ There are other ine'ualities with similar and longer periods. The Tide-Generating Forces 2s the earth revolves around the gravitational centre o! the sun earth system, the orientation o! the earth3s a%is in space remains the same. This is called revolution without rotation "see the animation !or !urther e%planation$. The tide generating !orce is the sum o! gravitational and centri!ugal !orces. /n revolution without rotation the centri!ugal !orce is the same !or every point on the earth3s sur!ace, but the gravitational !orce varies "4igure 11.1$. /t !ollows that the tide generating !orce varies in intensity and direction over the earth5s sur!ace. /ts vertical component is negligibly small against gravity(

its e!!ect on the ocean can be disregarded. /ts hori6ontal component produces the tidal currents, which result in sea level variations "4igure 11.2$.

The tide generating !orce as the resultant o! centri!ugal and gravitational !orces. The !igure on the right shows the earth5s movement as revolution without rotation. The golden circle shows the path o! the earth5s centre in space, the white circle the path o! point A. .ote that the orientation o! the earth5s a%is in space does not change and that as a conse'uence the diameter o! both circles is the same. This means that the centri!ugal !orce e%perienced by all points on the earth "as well as inside it$ is the same, in magnitude and direction. The gravitational !orce e%erted by the sun always points to the centre o! the sun. The e!!ect o! this !orce e%perienced by points on the earth5s sur!ace there!ore varies with position, in magnitude and direction. The resulting balance o! !orces is shown in the le!t diagram. The open arrows indicate a net !orce in the vertical direction, the !ull arrows indicate a net !orce that contains also a hori6ontal component. This hori6ontal component o! the resulting !orce is the tide generating !orce. The same principle applies to the interaction between the earth and its moon. 7oth bodies revolve around their common centre o! gravity, which in this case is inside the earth "but not at its centre$. The earth again revolves around this centre without rotation, so that the centri!ugal !orce is the same everywhere but the gravitational !orce e%erted by the moon varies over the earth5s sur!ace. .ote again that in addition to revolving around the sun without rotation, the earth spins around

its a%is. This rotation around its own a%is is an entirely di!!erent issue and does not invalidate the !indings about the balance between gravitational and centri!ugal !orce with respect to the earth5s revolution around the sun. /ts only e!!ect on the tides is that it moves the entire tide8generating !orce !ield "shown above$ around the earth once every day.

2 snapshot o! the tide generating !orce when the moon is over the point marked 9 "the *6enith*$. This !orce !ield rotates around the earth with the moon. .ote that there are two points o! water accumulation "high water$, ie the basic tidal period is hal! the period o! the moon5s revolution.

The gravitational !orce e%erted by a celestial body "moon, sun or star$ is proportional to its mass but inversely proportional to the s'uare o! the distance. The -un5s mass is e'uivalent to some ::2,;;; &arth masses, while the mass o! the +oon corresponds to only 1.2 percent o! the mass o! the &arth. The mean distance -un 8&arth is 10<.5 million km, the mean distance &arth 8 +oon only :=0,;;; km. /! the gravitational !orce o! the -un and +oon are compared, it is !ound that the -un5s enormous mass easily makes up !or its larger distance to &arth, to the e%tent that the gravitational !orce o! the -un !elt on &arth is about 11= times that o! the +oon. 2s a result the &arth5s orbit around the -un is not seriously distorted by the +oon5s movement around the &arth. )owever, as is evident !rom 4igure 4igure 11.1, tides are not produced by the absolute pull o! gravity e%erted by the -un and the +oon but by the di!!erences in the gravitional !ields produced by the two bodies across the &arth5s sur!ace. 7ecause the +oon is so much closer to the &arth than the -un, its gravitational !orce !ield varies much more strongly over the sur!ace o! the &arth than the gravitational !orce !ield o! the -un. >uantitative analysis shows that the differences o! the gravitational !orces across the &arth5s sur!ace are proportional to the cube o! the distances -un 8 &arth and &arth 8 +oon. 2s a result the -un5s tide8generating !orce is only about 0?@ o! that !rom the +oon. Ather celestial bodies do not e%ert a signi!icant tidal !orce.

Main tidal periods

Tides produced by the moon o +2 "semidiurnal lunar$ 1 2 lunar day B 12h 25min
o

A1 "diurnal lunar$ 1 lunar day B 20h 5;min

Tides produced by the sun

o o

-2 "semidiurnal solar$ 1 2 solar day B 12h C1 "diurnal solar$ 1 solar day B 20h

The tides can be represented as the sum o! harmonic oscillations with these periods, plus harmonic oscillations o! all the other combination periods "such as ine'ualities$. &ach oscillation, known as a tidal constituent, has its amplitude, period and phase, which can be e%tracted !rom observations by harmonic analysis. )undreds o! such oscillations have been identi!ied, but in most situations and !or predictions over a year or so it is su!!icient to include only +2 , -2 , C1 and A1. Dractical predictions produced on computers !or o!!icial tide tables use signi!icantly more terms than these !our( !or e%ample, the 2ustralian .ational Tidal 4acility uses 115 terms to produce the o!!icial 2ustralian Tide Tables. Tidal Classification The !orm !actor F is used to classi!y tides. /t is de!ined as F B " C 1 E A 1 $ " +2 E -2 $ where the symbols o! the constituents indicate their respective amplitudes. 4our categories are distinguished : value o! F ; 8 ;.25 1.5 8 : F: category semidiurnal mi%ed, mainly diurnal diurnal

;.25 8 1.5 mi%ed, mainly semidiurnal

4igure 11.: shows e%amples.

Immingham: semidiurnal; two high and low waters each day.

-an 4rancisco: mi%ed, mainly semidiurnal( two high and low waters each day during most o! the time, only one high and low water during neap tides.

+anila: mi%ed, mainly diurnal, one dominant high and low water each day, two high and low waters during spring tide.

,o -an: diurnal( one high and low water each day.

Shape of the Tidal Wave The scales o! variations in the !orcing !ield are o! global dimensions. Anly the largest water bodies can accommodate directly !orced tides. An a non8rotating earth the tides would be standing waves( they would have the !orm o! seiches, ie a back and !orth movement o! water across lines o! no vertical movement "nodes$. An a rotating earth the tidal wave is trans!ormed into movement around points o! no vertical movement known as amphidromic points.

2t amphidromic points the tidal range is 6ero. #o8range lines "lines o! constant tidal range$ run around amphidromic points in 'uasi8 circular !ashion. #o8phase lines "lines o! constant phase, or lines which connect all places where high water occurs at the same time$ emanate !rom amphidromic points like spokes o! a wheel.

The animation compares seiche movement with tidal movement around an amphidromic point. .ote that on a rotating earth the tides take the shape o! propagating waves: The wave propagates around the amphidromic point in clockwise or anti8clockwise !ashion. ,etails o! the shape o! the tidal wave depend on the con!iguration o! ocean basins and are di!!icult to evaluate. #omputer models can give a description o! the wave on an oceanic scale "4igure 11.0$. Their results have to be veri!ied against observations o! tidal range and times o! occurrence o! high and low water. ,istortions o! the wave on the continental shel! caused by shallow water make it di!!icult to assess results !or the open ocean. /n deep water the tidal range rarely e%ceeds ;.5 m.

2n e%ample o! a result !rom a computer model o! the tides in the world ocean, showing amphidromic points "red circles$ and sense o! rotation "purple B clockwise, green B anti8 clockwise$. The !igure shows the +2 wave. The complete solution consist o! superposition o! this result with the results !or -2, C1 and A1 "and other constituents$. Ged lines are co8phase lines indicating the crest o! the tidal wave at ;, :, ? and < lunar hours a!ter the moon5s transit through the meridian o! Hreenwich. "The !illed sector o! the purple and green circles indicates the sector between ; and : lunar hours( 12 lunar hours correspond to 12 hours 25 minutes.$ 7lue numbers indicate the tidal range "m$ due to the +2 tide. /n the open ocean the tidal range is generally small ";.2 8 ;.5 m( it is 6ero at amphidromic points$. The model indicates large tidal ranges closer to the coast( but the coarse model resolution does not reproduce the known e%treme tides in the 7ay o! 4undy or on the 4rench coast. "These regions show up with very large tidal ranges, though.$

Co-oscillation tides Tides in marginal seas and bays cannot be directly !orced( they are co8oscillation tides generated by tidal movement at the connection with the ocean basins. ,epending on the si6e o! the sea or bay they take the shape o! a seiche or rotate around one or more amphidromic points. /! the tidal !orcing is in resonance with a seiche period !or the sea or bay, the tidal range is ampli!ied and can be enormous. This produces the largest tidal ranges in the world ocean "10 m

in the 7ay o! 4undy on the #anadian east coast( 1; m at -t. +alo in 4rance, = m on the .orth Iest -hel! o! 2ustralia and at the e%treme north o! the Hul! o! #ali!ornia in +e%ico( all are mainly semidiurnal tides$. Tidal range is then largest at the inner end o! the bay, in accordance with the dynamics o! seiches in open basins. +odest ampli!ication is e%erienced in -pencer Hul! o! -outh 2ustralia where the tidal range at spring tide is : m at the inner end, while it is less than 1 m at the entrance to the Hul!. 4igure 11.5 shows an e%ample o! a co8oscillation tide in a large bay. The tide is !orced !rom the open end by the oceanic tide, which has an ma%imum tidal range "at spring tide$ o! about 1 m. 7ecause o! the width o! the basin the #oriolis !orce is able to shape the wave, producing amphidromic points around which the wave propagates. 2mpli!ication is particularly large along the 7ritish coast and in the &nglish #hannel.

Tides in the .orth -ea as derived !rom observations. Ged lines are co8phase lines o! the +2 tide, labelled in hours a!ter the moon5s transit through the meridian o! Hreenwich. "There are thus only 25 minutes between the co8phase lines labelled 12 and ;.$ 7lue lines give the mean tidal range at spring tide "co8range lines o! the sum o! +2 and -2$. The progress o! the tidal wave !rom the 2tlantic Acean into the .orth -ea is clearly demonstrated by the co8phase lines. The wave enters !rom the north and propagates along the

7ritish coast( it then proceeds around two amphidromic points along the ,utch, Herman and ,anish coastline. 2nother wave enters !rom the south west, through the &nglish #hannel. /n the /rish -ea the wave enters !rom the south. The in!luence o! the #oriolis !orce is demonstrated by the co8range lines, which show large tidal range along the 7ritish coast and small tidal range along the Herman, ,anish and .orwegian coast. The same e!!ect "ampli!ication on the right side o! the wave$ is seen in the &nglish #hannel, where the tidal range along the 4rench coast is as high as 11 m compared with : m on the &nglish coast, and in the /rish -ea, where = m on the &nglish coast compare with 2 m on the /rish coast.