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11.11: A Rare King Tide Experience In San Diego

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    A Rare King Tide Experience In San Diego

    Opportunity to see the effects of Perigee and Perihelion happening on a full moon on the same day!

    On January 1, 2018, the Moon was both full and at perigee, and on January 2 the Earth was at perihelion. In other words, the best conditions for creating maximum tides. The tide chart showed that the tidal ranges are 9.5 feet on those days—the largest in seen in many years in San Diego!

    Figure 11.24 compares the view in the early morning and afternoon high tides on the beach near Encinitas in northern San Diego on January 2. The upper picture shows waves crashing on the upper beach looking south near near the D Street Stairs to the beach. The ocean was fairly calm this day, but wave were crashing against the base of the sea cliff farther south along the beach. The second image shows the same beach view at the extreme low tide level of the day. The water level has dropped to the point the offshore sand bars are exposed (that are rarely visible). The dark wrackline at the upper beach is mostly composed of black magnetite sand sorted by the wave action at high tide.

    perigee_perihelion_1_1_2017.jpg
    Figure 11.24. A rare king tide as experienced in San Diego (high tide and low tide, same day in Encinitas).

    Students! Be Prepared to understand our local tides! Check out:
    Oceanside Harbor Tides (Surf-Forecast.com website).
    Del Mar Tides
    San Diego (NOAA Tides website)

    NOAA's Long Term tide prediction calculator for La Jolla, California (Scripps Institute of Oceanography)

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