looking for a Bufin

All this talk of Sine waves and Fourier analysis. Makes me recall Physics degree in the early 70's. Having looked at the way that the earth has places that have only one tide a day (as opposed to two), the main thing about Fourier analysis that I recall is that ANY wave form can be constructed from multiple sine waves, including a square wave! I recall there are at least 5 gravitational components that contribute to tides, so "strangeness" should not be a surprise...
 
I can just recall from over 50 years ago a student exercise to estimate the maximum water level difference across a hypothetical barrier between Anglesey and Ireland. My memory is hazy but I think it involved assuming that the barrier created a new, second amphidromic point north of the barrier - and I guess we were expected to work on the crude assumption of two ‘back to back’ rectangular basins.
 
If you think about sound waves emanating from a speaker in a room, the reflections of different surfaces / substrates will enhance some and cancel out other frequencies. This is particularly noticeable with bass frequencies, and if you walk around you will likely experience parts of the room where the bass is louder than others.
The tides and waves do the same thing, just on a much bigger scale.
 
It's perhaps easier to think of the tide as a wave that follows the sun and moon. The moon sort of "pulls" the wave around. But because of that, the wave always lags behind the moon. THIS IS A WAY TO THINK OF IT, NOT NECESSARILY A PRECISE PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION! There are MANY other issues that complicate matters, but basically, the tide always lags behind the moon.
thank you very much for your answer it is very useful
 
Strictly speaking it really depends on how far we are away from the moon as to how much pull it will have on the waves. For example we on the east coast are nearer the moon compared to say the south coast because they are about 60 to 70 miles further down.. Therefore the lag for them will be slightly greater.
BTW what's a Bufin ???
It was suposed to read bofin but this pridictive text. A bofin knows everything.
 
I was up the river Deben yesterday for 4 days, such a lovely river, although I thought the escape was a bit hairy. What do you sail there?
 

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