Tide of the Time: Global tidal characteristics observed from in-situ measurements
13 affiliations
- 1Technical University of Munich (Munich, Germany)
- 2GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany
- 3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, USA
- 4National Centre for Integrated Coastal Research and Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, University of Central Florida, USA
- 5School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK
- 6IMEDEA (UIB-CSIC), Esporles, Balearic Islands, Spain
- 7National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool, UK
- 8NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
- 9DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- 10LEGOS, Université de Toulouse, CNES, CNRS, IRD, Toulouse, France
- 11Mercator Ocean International, Toulouse, France
- 12Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut, Technische Universität München, Germany
- 13Institute for Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Abstract
Tide gauges have been critical sources for sea level research, enabling the development of tidal theory and an understanding of local variations that occur across the global oceans. Tides play important roles in a variety of oceanographic and geodetic applications, and characterising their spatial variability is valuable for applications ranging from fishing to flood risk management. This manuscript presents the coastal characteristics of ocean tides based on 3,591 high-frequency tide gauge observations from the recently updated GESLA-4 database. These characteristics range from tidal datums such as Mean High Water (MHW) and the Great Diurnal Range to metrics like the Age of the Tide, Form Factors, Dodginess, updated amplitude trend estimates, and new insights into the regional duration of high tides. Our analysis finds that 125 out of 237 long-time series show statistically significant trends in one or more constituents, from -1.47 mm/yr to +1.80 mm/yr, while the duration of the high-water stand during spring tides is shown to vary from 1 to 14 hours, for an inundation depth of 20 cm. It is anticipated that the results presented will be useful not only to tidal experts but also to a wide range of cross-disciplinary researchers and local communities, aiding their understanding of a vital component of the global Earth system.
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BibTeX
@article{hartdavis2026tide,
title = {{Tide of the Time: Global tidal characteristics observed from in-situ measurements}},
author = {Michael Hart‐Davis and Roman Lucas Sulzbach and Stefan Andreas Talke and Ivan David Haigh and Marta Marcos and Philip Leslie Woodworth and Richard D. Ray and Ole B. Andersen and Florent Lyard and Ergane Fouchet and Denise Dettmering and Maik Thomas and Florian Seitz},
journal = {Ocean science},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.5194/os-22-1681-2026},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1681-2026},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Tide of the Time: Global tidal characteristics observed from in-situ measurements
AU - Michael Hart‐Davis
AU - Roman Lucas Sulzbach
AU - Stefan Andreas Talke
AU - Ivan David Haigh
AU - Marta Marcos
AU - Philip Leslie Woodworth
AU - Richard D. Ray
AU - Ole B. Andersen
AU - Florent Lyard
AU - Ergane Fouchet
AU - Denise Dettmering
AU - Maik Thomas
AU - Florian Seitz
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/28
JO - Ocean science
DO - 10.5194/os-22-1681-2026
UR - https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1681-2026
AB - Tide gauges have been critical sources for sea level research, enabling the development of tidal theory and an understanding of local variations that occur across the global oceans. Tides play important roles in a variety of oceanographic and geodetic applications, and characterising their spatial variability is valuable for applications ranging from fishing to flood risk management. This manuscript presents the coastal characteristics of ocean tides based on 3,591 high-frequency tide gauge observations from the recently updated GESLA-4 database. These characteristics range from tidal datums such as Mean High Water (MHW) and the Great Diurnal Range to metrics like the Age of the Tide, Form Factors, Dodginess, updated amplitude trend estimates, and new insights into the regional duration of high tides. Our analysis finds that 125 out of 237 long-time series show statistically significant trends in one or more constituents, from -1.47 mm/yr to +1.80 mm/yr, while the duration of the high-water stand during spring tides is shown to vary from 1 to 14 hours, for an inundation depth of 20 cm. It is anticipated that the results presented will be useful not only to tidal experts but also to a wide range of cross-disciplinary researchers and local communities, aiding their understanding of a vital component of the global Earth system.
SN - 1812-0784
SN - 1812-0792
ER -