Lake tides

Date view Thread view Subject view Author view Attachment view

From: Ben Pittenger (benpittenger@earthlink.net)
Date: Mon Feb 25 2002 - 08:05:56 PST 

Message-ID: <20020225160556.28722.qmail@earthlink.net>
From: "Ben Pittenger" <benpittenger@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 00:05:56 +0800
Subject: Lake tides

From my memory of my earth science studies and readings, yes, lakes do experience tides - They are very small. They also have something that look like tides, and which influence the height of the lake more than do the tides. They are changes in water levels that are called seiches. Seiches are periodic fluxuations that result from forces over the water, such as winds. The frequency and magnitude of these waves depend on the size, shape, and bottom configuration of the lakes, just as ocean tides do. For some limited discussions, see: (http://seagrant.wisc.edu/outreach/coastal_engr/coastalprocesses/ce_surgeseiche.asp)

Lake tidal fluxuations are small. Even the largest lakes show changes measured in inches or centimeters, rather than feet or meters.

To see graphs of the cumulative Great Lake fluxuations you can check this site: http://glakesonline.nos.noaa.gov/ Of course, there may be other forces at work here, such as storm surge.

Ben 

--

Date view Thread view Subject view Author view Attachment view

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Mon Aug 05 2002 - 09:21:40 PDT