eli5: Why are tide highs and lows not uniform?

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Some places, like the Bay of Fundy, have extreme high vs low tides, but other places (I can’t think of one) have almost invisible tide level changes. I have wondered this for years: since all tides have the same cause, why aren’t all tides the same? For the record, I do understand why tides vary through the month, but no idea why they vary geographically.

In: Physics

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

There are a variety of factors that all play roles. Gravity if nearby celestial bodies The axis of the Earth is at about 23° to the sun, so the Earths poles point towards the sun at during the summer and winter, the earths orbit around the sun is elliptical not perfectly round. The moon is on a 27 day orbit around the earth. These factors are predictable and tug at the water of the ocean slightly differently every day. The unpredictable factor is the weather. Wind makes waves that shoves water through inlets and precipitation events from large drainages raise near shore tidal estuaries.
These are some of easy to explain reasons that tides are not uniform.

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