I'm under the impression that tides are governed by the moon , and the tides have been low in the mornings for ages now . This sucks for the early morning beachies - how long will this go on for???

I looked at the tides this week and saw an interesting pattern . I have seen this before and always wondered why , it just doesn't make sense to me.

Why don't the tides go from low to high ?- they come up , then down a bit then back up to peak at high tide

check this site tides4fishing.com/ Kearnsy, might give you some answers.

For as long as I've known, it's always low tide in the morning in summer and low tide in the evening in winter in the metro latitudes. I haven't done any research into why, that's just how it is.

Tides are governed by the moon, the sun and the centrifugal force of the rotation of the Earth and the centrifugal force of the bulge movement of the ocean when acted upon by the moon and sun.
It's a lot more involved than just using the position of the moon in relation to Earth. The way the various celestial objects align can cause 'unusual' tide fluctuations. Also, the harmonic analysis used to predict tides can only be so accurate, especially when you have to factor fluctuating sea surface temperatures into the mix.

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subasurf said..

Tides are governed by the moon, the sun and the centrifugal force of the rotation of the Earth and the centrifugal force of the bulge movement of the ocean when acted upon by the moon and sun.
It's a lot more involved than just using the position of the moon in relation to Earth. The way the various celestial objects align can cause 'unusual' tide fluctuations. Also, the harmonic analysis used to predict tides can only be so accurate, especially when you have to factor fluctuating sea surface temperatures into the mix.

+ Bathymetry, rivers etc.......

@bakesy , that website is great . Cheers mate! Was interesting to squash a few myths I had running my show ;).

Thanks for your reply Suba . All I will say is Im happy I don't have to calculate tides for a living .

Interesting stuff!

Ha we had to do some predictions by hand using some pretty brutal math as part of our general oceanography studies. Not fun at all.

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IFocus said..

subasurf said..

Tides are governed by the moon, the sun and the centrifugal force of the rotation of the Earth and the centrifugal force of the bulge movement of the ocean when acted upon by the moon and sun.
It's a lot more involved than just using the position of the moon in relation to Earth. The way the various celestial objects align can cause 'unusual' tide fluctuations. Also, the harmonic analysis used to predict tides can only be so accurate, especially when you have to factor fluctuating sea surface temperatures into the mix.

+ Bathymetry, rivers etc.......

temps related to high and low pressures i.e. summer big highs low tides and vice versa

predicted vs actual can be very different - check out this from Gero Port Auth

www.midwestports.com.au/profiles/midwestports/custom/seaview/