Tides
& Their Importance
How do tides occur?
The ocean's tides are caused by the varying gravitational pull of the moon as it rotates around the Earth. That pull, in combination with the spin of the planet, causes the water to bulge toward the moon and also on the side of the planet directly opposite that. They occur twice a day.
High & Low tides.
High tides are where the water is bulging towards the moon, causing water to rise to its highest peak. Low tides are the areas in-between the high tides where the water is at its lowest. An ebb tide is the flow of water form the high to the low tide.
What is a spring tide?
A spring tide is when the gravational pull of both the sun and the moon make high tides very high and low tides very low. this occurs at the new and full moon. They are very strong tides
What is a neap tide?
A tide that occurs when the difference between high and low tide is least; the lowest level of high tide. Neap tide comes twice a month, in the first and third quarters of the moon.
How tides affect organisms
Bottle Nosed Dolphin
The Bottle Nosed uses the high tide to work together to catch fish. one dolphin will stir up the sand sending the fish towards the rest of the pod they will continue this until the tide recedes.
Sand Bubbler Crab
sieves through the sand picking out all the microfauna for its food. it can only do this when the sand is moist. they will clean every gran of sand within 1 meter of their burrow.
Bear
Even though a bear is a land animal it is still effected by the tides changes. When the tide is Low it exposes areas generally covered by water giving the bear access to areas to where crustaceans live, giving the bear a free seafood feast.
bibliography
Tides, 2013, National Geographic, accessed 27 August 2013, <http://education.nationalgeographic.com.au/education/encyclopedia/tide/?ar_a=1>.
The Blue Planet, 2013, BCC, accessed 27 August 2013, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008044n/clips>.
The Moon And Tides, 2003, Keith cooley, accessed 23 August 2013, <http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moontides/>.