3 ms·

> Before tides for a particular location can be predicted, a series of observed hourly heights, preferably of twelve months duration, are mathematically analyse

> Before tides for a particular location can be predicted, a series of observed hourly heights, preferably of twelve months duration, are mathematically analysed. This analysis separates the observed tide into its astronomically forced components, known as harmonic constituents or harmonic constants, ... An analysis for this machine resolved up to 42 constituents. A modern analysis frequently resolves 120 or more constituents. I imagine that tides could also be computed with CFD and a 3D model of the sea floor, without having to observe for 12 months at each new location. Is this done, and if so, how does the accuracy compare?

elevaet 4y ago
In theory you should be able to do this, but I expect in practice it is such a complex system that you couldn't faithfully model the tides by looking at the bathymetry. It's one of those problems where everything affects everything. It's a gigantic pool of liquid, so you'd have to model the entire ocean. For many areas you'd need to be taking into account how the shape of the coastline itself changes with the tide as well. Computationally extremely complex to do it this way.