Jeff Morris wrote:

Nav wrote:

Jeff Morris wrote:

The tides at the equator are also reduced by the fact that they
actually lag the moon by 6 hours. This is caused by the fact that
the "tidal wave" cannot move fast enough through the ocean to keep up.



Care to explain that?


One explanation I've seen is that the average depth of the ocean does
not allow the wave to propagate fast enough at the Equator.
http://www.marktovey.co.uk/tidesfull.html#Q16

I've also seen it described in term of the "natural resonance" of the
ocean at the equator, which is 30 hours, while the Moon's rotation is a
bit over 12 hours, but I'm sure this comes down to the same thing.

What I haven't seen described in detail is exactly how much this affect
reduces the tides.


Exactly and it does -a lot I think (although I've not done/seen any
maths on this). The wavelength of the tidal resosnance is 1/2 the earth.
For a trochoidal wave this would imply a huge natural crest - peak
depth. The oceans are simnply not deep enough to allow full development
of such a wave (IMHO) of course. This impedes the propagation of the
wave (as do the continents).

Cheers