The highest tides on Earth! At my door ..

[Morden2004]

The highest tides on Earth occur in the Minas Basin, the eastern extremity of the Bay of Fundy, where the average tide range is 12 metres and can reach 16 metres when the various factors affecting the tides are in phase (although the highest tides occur typically a day or two after the astronomical influences reach their peak).

The primary cause of the immense tides of Fundy is a resonance of the Bay of Fundy-Gulf of Maine system. The system is effectively bounded at this outer end by the edge of the continental shelf with its approximately 40:1 increase in depth. The system has a natural period of approximately 13 hours, which is close to the 12h25m period of the dominant lunar tide of the Atlantic Ocean.

Like a father pushing his daughter on a swing, the gentle Atlantic tidal pulse pushes the waters of the Bay of Fundy-Gulf of Maine basin at nearly the optimum frequency to cause a large to-and-fro oscillation. The grestest slosh occurs at the head (northeast end) of the system. Because Earth rotates counterclockwise in the Norhern Hemisphere, the tides are higher in Minas Basin (Wolfville-Truro area) than in Chignecto Bay (Amherst-Moncton area).

Here are a few pictures taken just at 11:30 AM today which was low tide here in Morden, Nova Scotia. We are about 30 Km from the Minas Basin mentioned above and our tide extremes here are about 1 meter less.

In addition to our tides, Morden is famous for having one of the few remaining (I believe it is now two) wiers - a system of poles and nets that funnel fish into a man-made tidal pool as the tides receed down the bay. The principal fish species caught in this manner are mackeral, herring, sea bass and the odd seal. We also see sun fish in the order of 500 lbs (!), small sharks (also know as 'dog fish'), and wayward salmon.

Fishing by boat is also a big industry here and scallop dragging as well.

In these pictures you will see the wier from the shore just at low tide. Those poles at the far end surrounding the pool are about 44 feet high. At high tide a few feet will remain above the water. The next few pictures are showing the long 'guide net' and the pool. You will also notice a very hungry double-breasted Cormorant on one of the poles. The fourth pictures shows David skimming the pool with a net to capture the fish - only two sea bass today.

In the last picture, the blue house belongs to friends from Sudbury MA and the white house behind theirs is mine.

If there is any interest I will post some more pictures from this area of Nova Scotia.

All these pictures were taken with my new Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT camera - of which I'm growing quite fond :yes: .

Paul

[luvvinvinyl]

Very interesting pics; I would love to see more!

[Sandy G]

Yeah, me too ! Do hurricanes ever make it up there, or are they pretty much outta steam by then? Methinks you could make a decent living selling picture postcards of the view out yr back door...<grin>-Sandy G.

[radioactive]

id love to see more also. my dads from nova scotia and we have lots of relatives still there. :thmbsp:
by the way is that isle haute in the background?

[tentoze]

Very nice shots....gawd I miss the ocean.

[Morden2004]

id love to see more also. my dads from nova scotia and we have lots of relatives still there. :thmbsp:
by the way is that isle haute in the background?

Yes, that's the Isle of Haute. I can see it most days unless it's foggy.
History has it (and many artists concur) that the mysterious Isle of Haute, off in the bay, actually moves! Real? or imagined?

Because it is only 7 or 8 miles away and due to our meandering coastline, views of the Isle from different vantage points only a few kilometers away make the island seem to be moving in and out, back and forth. Very spooky.

What area of N.S. is your dad from?

Paul

[Morden2004]

Perhaps the most awesome display of the tides on our planet occurs at Cape Split, on the southern side of the entrance to Minas Basin (Cape Split may be reached by a pleasant two-hour walk along a popular hiking trail from the village of Scots Bay, which is a 30-minute drive north of Wolfville). Here at the time of the mid-point of an incoming tide, for a considerable distance the forest on the towering cliffs is filled with a hollow roar produced by the turbulence of the waters surging over the submarine ridges below. The currents exceed 8 knots (4m/s), and the flow in the deep, 5 km-wide channel on the north side of Cape Split equals the combined flow of all the streams and rivers of Earth (about 4 cubic kilometres per hour). Three hours later the spectacle pauses, and then begins flowing in the opposite direction.

In addition to that amazing fact, researchers from Acadia University in Wolfville N.S. have determined that the land surrounding the Minas Basin near Wolfville actually sinks a few inches under the immense weight of all that water at high tide! Awesome.

Paul

[Army]

Pretty sweet setup ya have there Paul!

Beautiful view and fresh fish whenever you want, :thmbsp: till it freezes :o

[radioactive]

What area of N.S. is your dad from?
my dad is froom wolfville.and lived throughout different ares including hansport,and kingsport.his father was in the army and they moved quite alot.

[Billfort]

Great stuff Paul, a beautiful part of Canada I haven't seen in way too long. I've gotta plan a vacation out that way with my wife, she's never been east of Ottawa - maybe next summer.

[opt80]

Sandy,
Yep we get hurricanes,last one 2003<Hurricane Juan


Alan

[Morden2004]

Sandy,
Yep we get hurricanes,last one 2003<Hurricane Juan


Alan

And on the Island where Alan lives, with a mean land height of about 10 feet above sea level, you have to be worried because just one big wave and :scratch2: whoosh ......... :naughty:

Paul

[opt80]

And on the Island where Alan lives, with a mean land height of about 10 feet above sea level, you have to be worried because just one big wave and :scratch2: whoosh ......... :naughty:

Paul


Yep if Katrina had hit us,all my gear would have been underwater,along with the house,car,well the entire island


Alan

[styler]

nice shots. its a world of difference from where i am. would love to see more pics! have any of ships/sailboats?

[VinylHanger]

Sure looks like a nice place to live. Perfect place for a Wal-Mart. :D

Seriously though, it is relaxing just looking at your house, must be a nice way of life you got there. :yes:

[Trawlerman]

Amazing stuff there Paul

Any chance of you posting pics of the local fishing vessels? AS you would probably have gathered by now I have more than a small interest in these things :)

[Morden2004]

Thanks to everyone for the requests for more pictures. I'll add a few more over then next few days.

And, Trawlerman, I'll slip over to Harbourville and get some shots of the fishing boats sitting on the bottom of the empty harbour - at low tide!

Fundy fishermen have a special need to know the tides more than any where else on earth because they have no water beneeth the keel twice a day and must time their exit and re-entry times very carefully.


These fishing boats are mosty Cape Islander boats - small open deck boats suitable to lobster fishing which is the more lucrative catch here. It is quite a sight to see one of these boats loaded down with thousands of pounds of lobster and a hundred traps on the deck on the last day of a season with the water lapping at the gunnels facing into a Nor'easter. We've lost quite a few boats when the temperature dips below freezing due to ice on the topside.

Here's a shot of a Cape Island boat on the bay from the bluff near my village taken last year. The second shot is of Greg's Cape Island boad (local fisherman out of Harbourville) from this July pulling a line of lobster traps right off the Morden wier - with very little water beneeth the keel - it was low tide!

Paul

[merrylander]

If you get the opportunity some pictures of the St. John river running backward would probably blow everyone's mind. Did they ever build the tidal generating station across the Bay?

I can tell all AK'ers that the Maritimes is one place you really should visit, that is where they invented hospitality, some of the friendliest, most generous people you could ever meet. I have been there three times, two vacations and once as a speaker at a conference in Fredricton. When I got to visit the Island there was no causeway, we went over on the Abeqweit and came back on one of the older ferries. The last trip was about three years back, that time we took the catamaran ferry from Bar Harbor, Florence just loved the place.

Rob

[Bill Cahill]

:yes: Boy! What a place! Talking 'bout million dollar views!! May I also see more water views, and boats?? Got any swimming, walking beaches? Last time I was in Canada was, oh, I think 30 years ago... Nice country. Nice people, too...... :thmbsp: Bill Cahill

[Morden2004]

If you get the opportunity some pictures of the St. John river running backward would probably blow everyone's mind. Did they ever build the tidal generating station across the Bay?

Well yes they did Rob. Here is an excerpt from a promo on that project:

The Annapolis Tidal Generating Station was completed in 1984. It was a pilot project sponsored by the provincial and federal governments designed to explore the potential of harnessing energy from the sea.

Annapolis Tidal utilizes the sea water of the Bay of Fundy. Tides, which can sometimes reach 21 feet in height, rise and fall every 12 hours and 25 minutes in harmony with the gravitational forces of the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon.

This facility has the distinction of being the first and only modern tidal plant in North America. The station is located in Annapolis Royal by the Bay of Fundy, home of the world's highest tides. Twice a day, the tide comes in and out. Twice a day the turbine turns. Twice a day electricity is generated which is supplied to the provincial electric grid.

Annapolis uses the largest straflo turbine in the world to produce more than 30 million kilowatt hours per year - enough to power 4,000 homes.

I am attaching a stock photograph of that generating station. BTW, the biggest boon from the construction of that tidal power station is line fishing! They catch sea bass by the boat load along the shores of that gut and last year we had a young whale get into the tidal pool and it took a couple of weeks to coax him out.

BTW, just down the bay from the power station is Digby and just down the coast a few kilometers from there is the best whale watching anywhere. If you're planning a vacation to the Maritimes, don't miss that adventure!

Paul

[Morden2004]

:yes: Boy! What a place! Talking 'bout million dollar views!! May I also see more water views, and boats?? Got any swimming, walking beaches? Last time I was in Canada was, oh, I think 30 years ago... Nice country. Nice people, too...... :thmbsp: Bill Cahill

Beautiful beaches and swimming on PEI. Also on the south shore of Nova Scotia. Here on the Bay of Fundy walking the beach is a matter of good timing. Many a visitor have found themselves driven off the beach onto a rocky outcrop to wait for the tide to recede and let them out!

Also, our beaches on the bay are quite rocky and although they are great for hunting mussels and clams - bad for ankles and knees. We are planning a mussel gathering foray shortly. Great mussel beds just a few kilometers from here.

And the views! I will try to get over to Cape Split to get some shots of Advocate (very large point jutting out into the Bay with very high rocky cliffs) across the channel. A great view of Advocate can be had from Cape Split and it’s at that point where the in-rush and out-rush crash over some under sea anomalies and create extreme noise.

BTW, late at night when all's quiet and the tide is receding down the bay towards Maine, we can hear giant bolders rolling along on the bottom. To a stranger it sounds like an approaching thunder storm and many a visitor has wondered where the thunder could be coming from when it's a perfectly clear night sky! It's an amazing phenomenon.

Paul

[merrylander]

I knew it was under construction, but I left in 1983 and the local news down here is just that - local. On our trip up to Nova Scotia we got some pictures of Peggy's Cove, our motel was just up the road from it, also shots at the fort in Halifax. I could try them in the scanner. Nearly talked Florence into moving up there.

Funny, we were scheduled to take the catamaran back to Bar Harbor when it chickened out because of the chop (it was running on three engines at the time) and we had to make a run for Digby to get the regular ferry.

Rob

[skippy_ps]

Great pics Paul! Thanks for posting.

Murray

[Morden2004]

Great pics Paul! Thanks for posting.

Murray

I more than happy to do so! I was a very busy amateur photographer for years and then - work, family etc. seemed to overpower my spare time.

But now that I'm retired and in such a beautiful location I am getting pretty excited about doing some more serious photography - digital, of course!

I just started another thread [Harbourville, N.S. - At high and low tides] where I'll expand on the theme of tides and working boats.

Paul