SLO 3

Describing the principles involved in the formation of tides and waves and evaluate their effects upon oceanic coastal processes.

TIDES POLLUTION, CONSERVATION, AND ORIGIN OF TIDES

Here is an informational presentation developed by some classmates and I. This goes over the basics of tides.

A very entertaining video explaining how tides work.

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon. The moon's gravitational pull generates something called a tidal force. The tidal force causes the water on Earth to bulge out on the side closest to the moon and the side opposite of the moon. These bulges are know as high tides. As earth rotates, we pass through both of these bulges each day. In most places we get two high tides and two low tides. Some places only get one high tide and one low tide which I'll explain right now. The Earth is not covered in a perfect layer of water making it sometimes hard to follow the law of gravity. Our Earth has seven different continents and these terrains tend to get in the way. Our moon doesn't orbit perfectly around our equator. The moon orbits at about a 5 degree angle from the plane of ecliptic. As well as we are at about a 23 degree tilt off our axis. The moon has a funky orbit pattern as well. The moon revolves around the Earth as the same direction the Earth rotates. It takes Earth an extra 50 minutes to catch up to the moon because the earth is spinning faster than the moon. All these factors causes some places to only have one high tide and one low tide. The images below put this into perspective.

Here a great video explain more in-depth how waves work and the three different types of waves. I go over two types of waves which are surface waves and tidal waves. The third type of waves are tsunamis waves.

Waves are mostly generated by the wind. Some wind will push down on the water causing a ripple effect. The wind then takes this ripple all the way towards the shore. The wave gets bigger the closer it gets to the shore. As it gets closer to the shore the wave begins to break and then crash against the shore.

The ongoing issue we have with waves is the erosion of our beaches. The ocean is continually crashing against our beaches causing a vigorous process called erosion. Erosion is caused by the continuous flowing of the water along our coasts. Erosion can happen in different ways. Some are caused by rocks crashing into each other or another being just the force of the water alone on the beach. Erosion is a natural accruing thing but we are in need of slowing down this process. Most of us have dreamed of living on the beach but those houses will soon tumble due to the amount of erosion underneath. Below are some pictures putting this pressing matter into perspective.

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