Partial Solar Eclipse in UK and Europe 2015.

[Peter Mugridge]

But what I can't work out, is why the very big tide this week was this afternoon (Sat 21st) and not yesterday afternoon (Fri 20th). Can anyone explain this discrepancy of 2 tides for me, please?

There's a bit of a lag between the gravitional effects and the actual tidal size caused in part by the rotation of the Earth but it's a very highly complex subject.

Tides are also affected by things like air pressure, the shape of the coastline, the depth of the water and even the direction of the wind.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

There's a bit of a lag between the gravitional effects and the actual tidal size caused in part by the rotation of the Earth but it's a very highly complex subject.

Tides are also affected by things like air pressure, the shape of the coastline, the depth of the water and even the direction of the wind.

Thanks for this.
Yes, I'm aware of most of the variables. But barometric pressure and wind had no bearing on this weekend's lag between the maximal gravitational force on Friday and then the full cyclic flow of four more tides ebbing and flowing across the entire planet's surface until this afternoon when the maximum was reached.

I'm strugging to understand a 'lag' whose cycle is slower than the 'normal' leading edge of the twice daily tide of the same oceanic volume such that its peak is 4 cycles behind its impulse.

[Sorry if I'm being a bit thick. I understand the common equations for fluid dynamics, but not this effect. If it's a damped oscillation, then surely the amplitude should decrease as soon as the imetus is removed or reduced.].

 

[Crossover]

I saw similar to muz, what with also being in the Manchester area. A few of us ventured out of the office to stand outside, able to see the eclipse through the cloudbreak using the "fake windows" of our office (lots of glass, but a lot of it has wall behind it) to watch the reflection. We also noted how cool it had dropped from earlier in the morning

 

[DaveNewcastle]

. . . . We also noted how cool it had dropped from earlier in the morning

Yes, there was a noticable cool breeze, and many of the birds (which had been very lively as on every other spring morning) suddenly became still.

 

[Crossover]

Yes, there was a noticable cool breeze, and many of the birds (which had been very lively as on every other spring morning) suddenly became still.

We noticed the silence at one point too. One of my colleagues commented that all the birds had gone to Tweet "what on earth is going on"