What causes tides?
Residents of most cities and villages located on the shores of the seas and oceans can observe one of the most interesting natural phenomena twice a day - regular changes in the water level, which are called tides. Such phenomena arise due to the presence of an attractive force between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun, as well as due to the centrifugal force arising from the rotation of the Earth, and hence the Moon, around the Sun along a certain trajectory. This article will focus on the highest tides.
High and low tides occur twice a day. Each such phenomenon lasts, on average, about 6 hours and 10 minutes. Having reached its maximum point (the so-called high water), the ocean level begins to gradually decrease, which also takes about 6 hours, until it reaches its minimum (low water). The tides are best seen when observing the open sea, the ocean, or on the coast.
Tide record holder - Bay of Fundy
Depending on the place on the planet, tides can occur at different frequencies. For example, on the coast of Central America, on island arcs, in East Asia, high and low tides occur only once a day. But the height of the tides is much more diverse than their frequency, and it depends on many different factors. In the open ocean and near the islands, the height of the tides is relatively small: in the Hawaiian Islands, approximately 1.1 meters, on the Fiji Islands - 1.8 meters, near St. Helena - 1.1 meters. In inland seas, however, the difference in water level between high tide and low tide is quite small. In the Black Sea, it is only 14 cm.
But the record holder for the height of the tides is the Bay of Fundy, washing the coast of Canada and the United States. This bay is quite large: length - 300 km, depth up to 215 meters, and its widest part reaches 90 km wide. The highest tide recorded in the Bay of Fundy reached 18 meters, which is still a world record.
Port Saint John
Port Saint John, located in the Bay of Fundy (formerly French Bay), is a unique building. It took a lot of work for sailors to adapt to the peculiarities of the local nature, to cope with the sea. Ships can enter the port only in accordance with a strict schedule, at certain times of the day.
The highest tide off the coast of Russia was recorded in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, in the Penzhina Bay. Its height was 14 m. Such high figures were achieved only once, at the beginning of the last century.