TIDES

SOME CONCEPTS
PART - II
By
Rakesh Sharma, Officer Surveyor
Marine Geodesy Wing
Geodetic & Research Branch
 MOTIONS OF THE SUN AND MOON
BEGINNING with the motion of the sun, it is
well known that the apparent path of the sun
through the heaven is in a plane cutting what is
known as the celestial sphere in a path called
the ecliptic. The plane of the ecliptic is inclined
at a constant angle of 23° 27' to the plane of the
equator. The point where the apparent path of
the sun crosses the equator from south to north
is called. by historical custom, “the first point
of Aries” (denoted by 'γ '), or, alternatively,
“the vernal equinox”
The position of any heavenly body is defined by:
Its "longitude," which is the angular distance eastward along the
ecliptic, measured from the vernal equinox, and its "latitude,"
measured positively to the north of the ecliptic along a great
circle cutting the ecliptic at right angles.

Astronomical angular definitions.

Alternatively, its position can be expressed in terms of its
angular distance along the equator from the vernal equinox
(this angle being called the "right ascension"), together with
its angular distance (called the "declination"), north or south
of the equator, measured along a meridian.

Astronomical angular definitions.

The apparent motion of the sun is such that a complete
revolution of the ecliptic is made in a mean solar year of
365.2422 mean solar days, and its movement in latitude is
negligible.

Ecliptic

Equator
The apparent path of
the moon oscillates
somewhat about the
ecliptic and
observation shows
that while the moon
completes a
revolution, measured
along the ecliptic, in a
period of 27.3216
mean solar days, the
cycle of oscillation
north and south of the
ecliptic is completed
in 27.2122 mean solar
days.
INCLINATION OF SUN AND MOON’S PATH OVER
EQUATOR

MOON’S
PATH
ECLIPTIC

5° 08′

23° 27′ EQUATOR

The difference between the period of revolution
in the orbit and the period of oscillation north and
south of the equator is of considerable
importance.

Suppose that the moon commences a cycle at the

vernal equinox. When the moon has completed its
cycle north and south of the ecliptic, the
revolution in orbit is not complete by 0.1094 day,
on the average.

27.3216 – 27.2122 = 0.1094 days

The "ascending
node" (that is, the
point where the
moon crosses
from south to
north of the
ecliptic), thus
travel westwards
(i.e., back-wards,
since the moon
and sun travel
eastwards), by
0.1094 day in
every 27.2122
days,
INCLINATION OF SUN AND MOON’S PATH OVER
EQUATOR

MOON’S
PATH
ECLIPTIC

EQUATOR
Therefore on the average this "regression of the nodes" will
be completed in

27.3216 cycles in latitude

0.1094

or 27.3216 X 27.2122 years = 18.61 Julian years.

0.1094 X 365.25

A Julian year is equal to 365.25 mean solar days.

It is known from
observations that
the lunar orbit is
in a plane which is
inclined to the
plane of the
ecliptic by
practically a
constant angle of
5° 8', and the
variations from
this figure are
negligible.
It is clear from the figure
that the maximum Moon’s orbit
declination of the moon Ecliptic
will occur when the
ascending node is at the
vernal equinox ('γ '),
when the north declination
γ
will rise during the Equator
following month to about
5° above the ecliptic (23°
27' + 5° 8' = 28° 35' in all)
and a fortnight later the
south declination will have
an equal value.
If, the descending node is
at the vernal equinox, the
maximum declination
(north or south) will not
Ecliptic
be more than 23° 27' - 5°
γ
8' =18° 19'. These values
will recur at intervals of
18.61.years so that we
have the important fact Moon’s orbit
that any tidal variations Equator
associated with lunar
declination will have a
regular variation in a
period of 18.61 years.
(generally referred to
briefly as the nineteen-
yearly variation).
 The phenomena associated with the nineteen-yearly period are
so interesting and so, important that it may be well to consider
the matter a little more generally. For this purpose we shall refer
to the periods of recurrence of lunar phases and of lunar
distance, which are obtained from observations, so that in all we
have four “months” as follows :-
(a)29.5306 mean solar days for the period of recurrence of lunar
phases, this being the period generally referred to as a lunation;
(b)27.5546 mean solar days for the period of oscillation in lunar
distance;
(c)27.2122 mean solar days for the period of oscillation of the
moon in latitude;
(d)27.3216 mean solar days for the period of revolution of the
moon in longitude.
From the last two we have already deduced the period of revolution
of the moon's nodes, and it is clear that the moon's motions will
tend to recur after this period in the sense that the moon will cross
the ecliptic at the same point after 18.61 years, But the sun will not
be in the same position relatively to the moon after that period, for
the sun is only found in the same position in the ecliptic after an
exact mean solar year. It is a very remarkable fact, discovered long
ago by Meton, that 235 lunations occur almost exactly in 19 mean
solar years. Again, it has been known for many centuries that
eclipses tend to recur in a period of nearly 18 years and 11 days.
Now the extent of an eclipse is largely governed by the distance of
the moon as well as its nearness to the ecliptic, so that this period is
related to the months (a) and (b), in that it includes 223 lunations
and 239 oscillations in lunar distance, almost exactly.
We get three important periods :-
 18.61 years as the period of revolution of
the moon's nodes.
 19.00 years, the Metonic cycle, giving the
recurrence of lunar phases.
 18.03 years, the Saros, giving the
recurrence of eclipses.
The question is often asked as to whether these periods
have any direct use in avoiding the necessity of
predicting tides. The answer is that if the Saros is used
the lunar declination is not repeated exactly, and that
the extra 11 days on the exact number of years affects
the solar tides, while if the Metonic cycle is used the
lunar distances are not the same. The necessary
corrections to the observations of 19 years ago would
be as troublesome as the direct prediction, and of
course the meteorological influences on the old
observations would not be easily corrected.
ORBITAL ELEMENTS AT ZERO HOUR, G.M.T.

s = Mean Celestial Longitude of Moon.

h = Mean Celestial Longitude of Sun.
p = Mean Celestial Longitude of Lunar Perigee.
N = Mean Celestial Longitude of Ascending Node.
p’ = Mean Celestial Longitude of Solar Perigee.
s = 277°.02 + 129°.3848 ( Y – 1900) + 13°.1764 (D+i)
h = 280°.19 - 0°.2387 ( Y – 1900) + 0°.9857 (D+i)
p = 334°.39 + 40°.6625 ( Y – 1900) + 0°.1114 (D+i)
N = 259°.16 - 19°.3282 ( Y – 1900) - 0°.0530 (D+i)
p’ = 282°.00 for the century 1900 to 2000.
Y = the year.
D = the number of days elapsed since january 1st in
the year.
i = the integral part of 0.25 (Y - 1901).
RESOLUTION OF TIDE
The complicated oscillatory force can be
resolved into sum of a number of F
‘Constituents’. Each of which is a simple
oscillation of the type F cos (E), which is
quite regular and can be simply calculated.
The Amplitude, F, is the constant maximum
to which the constituent rises in either
direction; its Phase, E, is an angle which E
F
increases at a constant rate with time for
each constituent. The number of these
constituents which it is necessary to take into
account depends on the accuracy with which
it is desired to reproduce the true variation of
the tide-raising forces while the number of
constituents it is possible to obtain by H=F Cos (E)
analysis depends on the length of period of
the observations being analysed.
RESOLUTION OF TIDAL CURVE

OBSERVED DATA

RESOLVED TIDE
SPEED OF THE CONSTITUENTS

The rate of which the angle E increases with time for

any constituent is known as the “speed” of that
constituent; this speed (which is not to be confused
with the actual speed of the tidal disturbance over the
ground) is really an angular velocity and is usually
expressed in degrees per hour. The “speeds” of over
400 such constituents have been calculated from the
astronomical formulae for the apparent motions of the
sun and moon.
LIST OF SOME HARMONIC CONSTITUENTS
Symbol Argument Speed number
Sa h 0.0411
Ssa 2h 0.0821
Mm s–p 0.5444
Msf 2s – 2h 1.0159
Mf 2s 1.0980
CALCULATION OF SPEED FOR Sa (SOLAR ANNUAL)
Apparently Sun takes 365.2422 day to complete
one revolution around Earth.
( in other words one cycle of 3600 is completed in
365.2422 days).
Change in angle per day = 3600/365.2422
Change in angle per mean solar hour
= 3600/(365.2422 X 24)
= 0.04110
CALCULATION OF SPEED FOR Mm (LUNAR MONTHLY)

Period of oscillation of Moon in lunar distance

= 27.5546 mean solar day
( in other words one cycle of 3600 is completed in
27.5546 days).
Change in angle per day = 3600/27.5546
Change in angle per mean solar hour
= 3600/(27.5546 X 24)
= 0.54440
Nodal Corrections

Due to the fact that the plane of moon’s orbit rotates slowly, returning
to its original position in space after about 19 years, the magnitude
and phase of each constituent (F and E respectively) vary slowly on
either side of the values they would have if the moon’s orbit were
fixed. This variation could be allowed for by additional constituents,
but it has been found more convenient to allow for it by introducing a
factor “f” and a phase correction “u”, which vary slightly about their
mean values of unity and zero degrees respectively with a period of
about 19 years. In the majority of cases for any period less than a year
“u” and “f” can safely be assumed to be constant at the values
calculated for the mid-point of the period. These Nodal Corrections
“f” and “u” differ for constituent, year and date but are the same for a
particular constituent, year and date all over the world. Hence ‘F’ and
‘E’ must be replaced by fF and (E + u) so that a tide-raising force
constituent becomes fF cosine (E + u).
The Phase (E + u) of a Constituent of the
Tide-Raising Force
The angle ‘E’ may be regarded as the hour angle of a
fictitious satellite which moves round the earth at a known
constant angular velocity (the ‘speed’ of the constituent).
Hence the value of ‘E’, relative to any particular meridian on
the earth, can be calculated at any time. The value of ‘u’
depend only on the year and date, hence its value for any
particular day can be calculated; this value will be the same
for all meridians. The phase of a constituent, (E + u ), relative
to any particular meridian, is the sum of the two, and it can be
calculated for any year, date and time.
INPUT FOR THE HARMINIC ANALYSIS

• Hourly heights for 1 month or 1 year.

• Values of s, h, p, N calculated at 00 hour on 1st
day of data to be analysed.
• Speeds of 100 constituents in their serial number.
• Mean Sea Level Value of the port.
AFTER ANALYSIS WE GET
Fn = Amplitude of the nth constituent;
gn = Phase lag of nth constituents;
n = Number of constituents ( say 100)
Height of tide can be calculated by the formula
H=Zo+∑ f n Fn cos [Ent + Vn + un - gn}.
where H = height of the tide at any time (t).
Zo = mean height of water level above the adopted datum of
predictions.
Fn = mean amplitude of nth component.
f n= factor for reducing Fn to the year of prediction.
En = speed of nth component.
t = time reckoned from some initial epoch (such as the
commencement of the year of predictions).
Vn =Value of equilibrium argument of nth component when t = 0.
un = Nodal angle in degrees of nth constituent and
gn = Phase-lag of nth component.
CALCULATION OF f AND u
Value of ‘f’ and ‘u’ for various constituents can be calculated
using the formulae
e.g. Mm: f=1.000-0.130 cos N, u=0°.0
M2: f=1.000-0.037 cos N, u= - 2°.1 sin N
…………
………….
Vn can be calculated using formula;
V1=h
V2=h + h
V3=s - p
…………….
…………….
En are the speed of constituents;
e.g. E1 = 0.04107
E2 = 0.08214
…………………
………………..
INPUT FOR THE PREDICTION OF TIDES

• Amplitude (Fn) and Phase lag (gn) of 100 constituents.

• Desired species ( Hourly predictions / High –Low water
predictions.
• Year and period of predictions.
RESOLUTION OF TIDAL CURVE

OBSERVED DATA

RESOLVED TIDES
RECONSTITUTION OF RESOLVED TIDES
PREDICTIONS

RESOLVED TIDES