the.com/springtide
the moon and sun gang up twice monthly to yank the ocean harder than usual
means The especially large tidal range that occurs around the new and full moon, when the sun and moon align to pull the seas more strongly — and, more loosely, the springtime itself.
from From Old English 'spring' (a leaping, welling-up — same root as the season and the rising of water) plus 'tide,' which in Old English ('tīd') meant 'time' or 'season' before it ever meant the sea's rise and fall — a cousin of 'time' itself. So the 'spring' here has nothing to do with the season: it's the older sense of waters that leap and swell. The word doubles as a poetic name for springtime precisely because 'tide' once simply meant a stretch of time, as it still does in 'Yuletide' and 'eventide.'
- name origin
- from old English for leaping, not the season
- twice monthly
- happens at new and full moon
- sun joins in
- solar gravity aligns with lunar pull
- opposite
- neap tides are the weak, sulking cousin
- height swing
- creates the largest difference between high and low
bay of fundy — nova scotia, canada: experiences 53-foot tidal range during spring tides, world's highest
thames estuary — england: spring tides reach up to 23 feet, historically caused flooding in london
severn estuary — uk-wales border: second-highest spring tides globally at 49 feet, basis for tidal power proposals