• Question: i still want to know why there is such a low tide in the medds

    Asked by flina001 to Charlie, Eoin, Jemma, Julian, Steve on 16 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Stephen Moss

      Stephen Moss answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Hi Flina001

      Nice to talk to you again, and to have a little more time to reply. As a biologist working on the eye I’m afraid my knowledge of the tides is fairly limited, and I don’t even know what ‘the medds’ is/are! I Googled it and still couldn’t find anything. My guess is that there are probably other scientists taking part who know more about the earth and who could give you a better answer, and I’d be curious to know when you find out.

    • Photo: Charlie Ryan

      Charlie Ryan answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      hi sorry but what does medds mean??

    • Photo: Julian Rayner

      Julian Rayner answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Hi flina001. Sorry, I didn’t know the answer, which is why i didn’t answer in the chat. A quick search of wikianswers tells me that part of the answer is because the Med is nearly land locked (the Straits of Gibraltar are very narrow), so it doesn’t respond much to tidal changes in the Atlantic. Hope that helps….

    • Photo: Jemma Ransom

      Jemma Ransom answered on 16 Mar 2011:

      Hi filna001. Sorry if I didn’t reply to your question during the web chat. There were so many of you with loads of great questions!

      The simple answer to your question is I don’t know, this really isn’t my area of speciality. Google might be able to tell you though…

    • Photo: Eoin Lettice

      Eoin Lettice answered on 16 Mar 2011:

      Hi Flina,
      Tides aren’t really my thing. Do you mean the mediterranean?
      Can you clarify your question and I’ll do my best to figure out the answer!
      Eoin

      EDIT:
      Hi Again,
      Just saw the comment below. Yes, the low tides in the mediterranean seems to be because it is almost entirely surrounded by land. The difference between the size of the tide inside the straits of Gibraltar and outside it is pretty substantial.
      This website explains it much better than I ever could: http://url.ie/a93a
      I hope this answers your question!
      Eoin

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