Strands of green and brown mix in Langebaan Lagoon on the South African coast in this astronaut photograph. The shallow tidal estuary has a sandy floor and, since no river Keep reading
Tag: tides
Capturing the Tides
Twice a day the tides rise and fall along coastlines. Increasingly, engineers are trying to harness these regular currents for clean energy. Tidal turbines spin during the fastest flows, turning Keep reading
Tidal Vortices
Local topography in the Sea of Okhotsk funnels water to create some of the largest diurnal tides in the world — nearly 14 meters! The currents rushing past islands and Keep reading
“Ruin of the Tides”
As tides and waves flow back and forth over a beach, they erode the sandy shore. Here photographer Michael Shainblum captures the streaks and rivulets left by a falling tide. Keep reading
High Tide
Broad Sound, in eastern Australia, is home to some of the most extreme tidal swings in the world, with more than ten meters difference between high and low tides. The Keep reading
The Naruto Whirlpools
Enormous whirlpools are not simply the work of overactive imaginations. There are several spots in the world, including Japan’s Naruto Strait, that regularly see these spectacular vortices. Naruto’s whirlpools are Keep reading
Tides
Most of us think we understand why Earth’s oceans have tides, but it turns out that there are some misconceptions in the common explanation. Yes, it’s true that the moon’s Keep reading
Real-Life Whirlpools
Literature is full of descriptions of monstrous whirlpools like Charybdis, which threatens Homer’s Odysseus. While it’s not unusual to see a small free vortex in bodies of water, most people Keep reading