Tell me more ×
Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for active researchers, academics and students of physics. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 5 down vote favorite

Maximum tidal heights vary widely across the globe, from 16 m in the Bay of Fundy to mere centimeters elsewhere. These variations are due to coastline and shoreline differences. This makes it difficult to determine a global average ocean tidal maximum height. Let's assume the Earth is a landless planet covered throughout by an average one km of ocean. How can we calculate the maximum ocean tidal height from a new moon or full moon syzygy, assuming semi-major Moon & Sun distances?

share|improve this question
This is covered pretty well in Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoid – Mark Eichenlaub Apr 15 '11 at 22:18
Mark: The article covers Earth's surface in terms of an equipotential gravitational surface, but does not address my question. How can we calculate the maximum ocean tidal height from a new moon or full moon syzygy, assuming semi-major Moon & Sun distances? – Michael Luciuk Apr 15 '11 at 22:33
1  
Right. I had two tabs opened at once and pasted the wrong one. Obviously you want the article on tides. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide Actually, it only gives the results, not the derivation – Mark Eichenlaub Apr 16 '11 at 1:12

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

I think you would have to get into the fluid dynamics. A uniform ocean approximation would help a lot. With any luck rather than solving for a fully 3D time dependent flow, an assumption that the result is an expansion of a few well choosen spherical harmonics, with the same periodicity as the tidal frequency might yield a closed form solution (if you are lucky).

share|improve this answer
Omega: WIKI's en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide says that the Moon's/Sun's tidal acceleration effects are 1.1E-7 g / 0.52E-7 g respectively. These are not difficult to calculate, but I'm at a loss on how to determine ocean height effects. – Michael Luciuk Apr 15 '11 at 22:46
1  
Michael, I don't the wiki gave enough information to solve the stated problem. You probably have to start from something like the shallow water equations used for tsunami theory, possibly adding some horizontal flows as well, then add the periodic body forces from the tidal driver. I don't think it is a trivial excercise, although clearly some people have known how to do it for decades. – Omega Centauri Apr 16 '11 at 3:34

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.