Title
Further Investigations: Tide Prediction
Table of Contents
- Practice estimating tidal range and heights. Here are some suggestions:
- Look at sessile (attached) shoreline organisms.
- Barnacles and oysters are usually submerged only at high tide. Look on walls, piles, and piers. The highest point where these organisms are found is a fair estimate of the high tide level.
- Algae attached to hard substrate, like rock, are exposed only during low tides; they can appear bleached white as a result of exposure during very low tides.
- Look at mollusk location and behavior on rocky substrate. The location patterns of mollusks are determined by their preference for being wet.
- Littorine mollusks prefer not to get wet, so they are found above the high tide water level in the splash zone.
- Nerite mollusks are usually covered by water during high tides.
- Limpets are exposed only during the very lowest tides.
- Use a guidebook to help you identify these mollusks.
- On sandy beaches, look for algae or floating debris left behind by waves that broke on shore during receding high tides. This debris marks the highest level reached by waves during a high tide. Look carefully for the wet sand level made by very recent waves.
- Look at sessile (attached) shoreline organisms.
- Investigate local tide conditions and patterns.
- Where is the closest government (e.g., National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) water level monitoring station in your area?
- Data from monitoring stations is available to the public online. Find the website for your local monitoring station.
- What is the average tide height in your area?
- In addition to water level, what other information does your nearest monitoring station collect?
- How must loading docks, boat ramps, and bridges on navigable waters be designed or modified to allow for tidal changes?
- Look at a tide table for your area or for a region you might want to visit on vacation. What information other than tide level is given on the tide tables? Using the tide table, make a tide graph for a one-month period.