Where tides approach a place
from different directions there may be an interval between the
times of arrival, which results in there being two periods of
high and low water, as at Southampton, where the tides approach
from each side of the Isle of Wight.
The hour at which high water occurs at any place on the coast
at the time of new or full moon is known as the establishment
of that place, and when this, together with the height to which
the tide rises above low water is ascertained by actual
observation, it is possible with the aid of the nautical
almanack to make calculations which will foretell the time and
height of the daily tides at that place for all future time. By
means of a tide-predicting machine, invented by Lord Kelvin,
the tides for a whole year can be calculated in from three to
four hours. This machine is fully described in the Minutes of
Proceedings, Inst.C.E., Vol. LXV. The age of the tide at any
place is the period of time between new or full moon and the
occurrence of spring tides at that place. The range of a tide
is the height between high and low water of that tide, and the
rise of a tide is the height between high water of that tide
and the mean low water level of spring tides. It follows,
therefore, that for spring tides the range and rise are
synonymous terms, but at neap tides the range is the total
height between high and low water, while the rise is the
difference between high water of the neap tide and the mean low
water level of spring tides.
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