![]() ![]() ![]() The Ocean Isle Beach area experiences four tides a day, two high and two low each day. Tides are when sea level rises and falls due to the combined effects of forces of gravity exerted by the Moon and the Sun and also the rotation of the Earth. They are not certified to be correct, and they do not incorporate the effects of tropical storms, El Niño, seismic events, continental drift, or changes in global sea level. Both the author and the website provider assume no liability for damages arising from the use of these predictions. Stay tuned for a similar tutorial on some of our favorite mapping websites.This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. For example, when you switch from a current gauge to tidal gauge, sometimes the units for the axes on the graphs don’t change.Īnyway, I hope that some of these tools are useful if not entertaining. While DeepZoom is an excellent tool, it can definitely be somewhat glitchy. For example, tidal current can combine with surface current from winds to make especially strong currents. Unfortunately, like all weather forecasting, DeepZoom does not substitute for a general knowledge of tides and currents and knowing local conditions. You can see from the graph that the tide is still falling, but remember that the current will continue flowing out until after low tide, when it is finally slack low. This means the tide is positive 2 feet, and does not indicate anything at all about the current speed or direction. It is still about noon, and the value is 2.0. The number zero means it’s “slack tide” – there is no current. Note that on the map, the numbers remain positive because direction is indicated by the arrow. Negative numbers mean the current is going out. Positive numbers mean the current is coming in. This means the current is going 4.3 knots (about 5 miles per hour) OUT, shown by the direction of the arrow. On the graph on the right, you can see that it’s about noon, and the value is -4.3. Here, you can see because of the large yellow arrows that the current is going out, or west, into the ocean, out of the Columbia river (aka ebbing). Things can be confusing with tides and currents… here is a real example: This gets back to why DeepZoom is such a great tool – play around with it for a while and you will develop a much better sense of how tides and tidal current interact in the area where you are interested in going. This is a simple example, whereas in real bays, there are narrows, changes in depth, and all sorts of things that affect tidal currents. When it finally stops, that is “slack” tide. Once it becomes high tide, it takes time for the water to actually stop because of all the momentum. Think of it this way: the tide is coming into a bay and the current is moving in through the mouth of the bay (aka flooding). The confusing thing is that when people say “high tide”, they are sometimes refering to when the current is slack, which can be after high tide. Tidal current, however, is the horisontal flow of water from place to place (like a river) that is a result of the tides – measured in knots (1.15 mph). There is a big difference between tides and tidal current – tides are the vertical raising and lowering of water measured in vertical feet. Small yellow squares are tide guages Numbers and arrows are for tidal current. The scroll bar at the bottom allows you to scroll through time to get a visual understanding of the tidal currents in an area. The main thing to not get confused about is that there are two types of guages you can click on: those for tides – the small yellow squares, and those for tidal current – the yellow arrows and/or standalone decimal numbers. For studying tides and tidal current, we highly recommend checking out Deep Zoom. If you’re planning on fishing out on the salt, it’s essential to have an understanding of the tides and tidal current, especially if you plan on fishing from a kayak. ![]()
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