A perigean spring tide is a
tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide t ...
that occurs three or four times per year when a
perigee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any ellip ...
(the
point
Point or points may refer to:
Places
* Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
* Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States
* Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
* Point ...
nearest
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
reached by the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
during its 27.3-day
elliptic orbit
In astrodynamics or celestial mechanics, an elliptic orbit or elliptical orbit is a Kepler orbit with an eccentricity of less than 1; this includes the special case of a circular orbit, with eccentricity equal to 0. In a stricter sense, it ...
) coincides with a
spring tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tables ca ...
(when the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
, the Moon, and Earth are nearly
aligned every two weeks).
This has a slight but measurable impact on the spring tide, usually adding no more than a couple of inches.
Astronomical causes
The
Moon's orbit
The Moon orbits Earth in the retrograde and prograde motion, prograde direction and completes one orbital period, revolution relative to the March Equinox, Vernal Equinox and the fixed stars, stars in about 27.32 days (a tropical month and sider ...
around Earth is
elliptical
Elliptical may mean:
* having the shape of an ellipse, or more broadly, any oval shape
** in botany, having an elliptic leaf shape
** of aircraft wings, having an elliptical planform
* characterised by ellipsis (the omission of words), or by conc ...
, which causes the Moon to be closer to Earth and farther away at different times. The Moon and the Sun are aligned every two weeks, which results in spring tides, which are 20% higher than normal. During the period of the
new moon
In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse.
...
, the Moon and Sun are on the same side of Earth, so the high tides or bulges produced independently by each reinforce each other (and has nothing to do with the
spring season
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season), a season of the year
* Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy
* Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water
* Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...
). Tides of maximum height and depression produced during this period are known as spring tide. Spring tides that coincide with the moon's closest approach to Earth ("perigee") have been called perigean spring tides and generally increase the normal tidal range by a couple of inches.
The
Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 coincided with a perigean spring tide. It inundated the entire Atlantic coastline of the United States, from the Carolinas to Cape Cod, resulting in a loss of 40 lives and over US$500 million of property damage.
See also
*
King tide
A king tide is an especially high spring tide, especially the perigean spring tides which occur three or four times a year. King tide is not a scientific term, nor is it used in a scientific context.
The expression originated in Australia, Ne ...
Notes
References
* Easterbrook, D.J. (1999). ''Surface Process and Landforms''. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
* Duxbury, A.B., Duxbury, A.C., Sverdrup, K.A. (2002). ''Fundamentals of Oceanography''. 4th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
* http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/faq2.html#15
*Wood, Fergus J. (2001). Tidal Dynamics Volume I: Theory and Analysis of Tidal Forces; Volume II Extreme Tidal Peaks and Coastal Flooding. 3rd ed. West Palm Beach, Fl: The Coastal Education and Research Foundation
ERF
External links
Apogee & Perigee Tables
{{physical oceanography
Tides