Event 03: 30 April 7pm

Thursday 30 April 7-9pm, The Thomas Tripp, Wick Lane, Christchurch

Tales on the Tide is a brand-new storytelling performance piece inspired by the strange tides in Christchurch Harbour. Through the Time and Tide project, professional storyteller Martin Maudsley has been working with youth groups, local residents and oceanography experts to highlight and communicate the science behind the dramatic tides and their wide-ranging effects on the local area.

The result is a tapestry of tales from magical myths to salty yarns, featuring a colourful cast of characters including devastating dragons, sly smugglers, fortunate fishermen and epic eels. The spellbinding stories will be interwoven during the evening with specially-arranged live music from multi-instrumental musician Fiona Barrow.

This event is free. The bar will be open and food can be purchased. Please register using the link below to be sure of a seat! As a guide no children under 11 please.

Sell Tickets through Eventbrite

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Tides talked

On Tuesday 24 March, Highcliffe Sailing Club was full to the gunnells (93 people) to hear from storyteller, Martin Maudsley and oceanographer and coastal scientist Ivan Haigh.

Ivan managed, with just one equation and a whole series of fabulous graphics, to explain the effect of the moon and sun on our tides and how friction, inertia and land constrain and distort the way the tide comes in and goes out. It seems the Isle of Wight has nothing to do with the double high tide, despite it being a commonly held myth. The main reason is the tides sweep up along the south coast through the channel, hit Holland and then bounce right back, giving the second tide.

Martin told the story of Raven and the very first tide, and then followed this up with how we have been working with young people to explore other myths, stories and impacts of the double high tide.

Calls for more such events will be considered!

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Tide tales from Year 5

Mudeford Stories

some tide stories from Year 5 pupils at Mudeford Junior School

Dancing Tache Cream And Mermaid

Once upon a time there was an ice cream with a moustache called Tache Cream.  He loved doing swimming and one day he drowned at the bottom of the ocean but swallowed some seaweed and he could suddenly breath.  And then he got engaged to a mermaid and together they pulled the sea back and forward.

And they danced every night at the bottom of the sea, and their swaying and their fro-ing made the waves go in and out and created the tide.

To the light of the silvery moon.

To the light of the silvery moon, yeah.

Fish Feng

So there was a Sea God called Fish Feng and a Rock God called Stone Stag and every day when the Sea God got angry the tide went out.  The Rock God made Fish Feng angry by putting boulders in the sea to wind up Fish Feng.  And whenever he's calm he breathes it in, the tide.

A horse came down from the sky and splashed into the sea.  Two massive boats came either side with men in each of the boats.  The horse wanted to find out how to get the sea in and out, so they could eat all the food.  The first man in the two boats said "you have to heave it".  The other two said "blow it".  The horse tried to heave it but it didn't work so he tried to blow it and now all the fishes can eat.

Mud Man Hair Washing

Once there was a woman who was so clean her hair sparkled like diamonds.  But one day evil Mud Man came along and made the woman's clothes dirty.  Immediately the woman dipped her clothes in the sea and swished them around until they were sparkly again.

Then the woman would hang her clothes on the washing line to dry.  This made the tide go down.  Every day the Mud Man did this and every day the woman washed and dried her clothes, but sometimes the woman washed her clothes twice just to be sure.  This made a double high tide.

Stressed Octopus Orpheus 

Well our idea was an octopus that pulls the sea back when he gets stressed because all the fish around him they stress him out, so he pulls the sea.

It's the full moon, the fish like the full moon and they go all over the place, and they stress the octopus out.  And the octopus pulls the sea back to make the tide happen.

Undersea Bobalobba

Once there was a gigantic creature who lived under the sea.  It ventured through deep waters and went wherever it wanted to.  Until one day two rocks fell on its arms and to this day it's continuously wriggling making the tide move in different directions.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Luna and Mar - a story

from Martin Maudsley

Many cultures across the world have mythical stories about the influence of the moon on the tide. This one from South East Asia, explains why the tide is high at full moon and new moon.

Long ago, before any humans had ever stepped foot on the land or sailed across the oceans, the Earth, the skies and the seas were ruled by three powerful gods. The sun god, who governed the skies, had a beautiful, pale-faced daughter called Luna who loved more than anything else to ride in her father’s golden chariot far and wide across the heavens. One day she travelled further than before, out of her father’s kingdom, to a place where the sky meets the sea. There she marvelled at the reflection of the water, the sound of the waves and the tang of the salty air…

Suddenly a handsome young man appeared out of the foam-flecked waves. Luna was startled and self-conscious and was about to leave but his warm and welcoming smile delayed her. He spoke softly, like waves on the shore, and told her that he was Mar, the son of the sea god, and led her to a green island where they sat together on the shore and shared stories of sky and sea. With love kindling in their hearts they met on the island more and more often, keeping their tryst secret from their fathers. But one of Luna’s many sisters, a twinkling star in the sky, watched Luna leaving the heavens and riding down to the sea to meet Mar and in her jealousy told the sun god.

Her father was angry at her faithlessness and forbade her to ever ride the golden chariot, and also told the sea god of their lovers’ liaison, who agreed to keep his son imprisoned in an underwater cave. Eventually, her father’s heart softened and Luna was allowed to ride the chariot once more. Down to the sea she travelled, to the island, calling out Mar’s name. Below the watery waves Mar could hear her and see her silver light reflected on the under-surface of the sea. Inside his cave he struggled and strained to get free, sending up a surge of rising water. But when Mar didn’t appear, Luna returned sadly to the heavens, heartbroken.

From that day then on, every few weeks Luna returns to the sea, sometimes bright and filled with hope, sometimes dark and despairing. Each time under the sea Mar struggles to be free and the water swells and reaches out towards her. When humans first appeared, sailors and fishermen, noticed that the tide is high at full moon and again at the new moon, and they told themselves that Mar is trying to escape his underwater cave to reach his beloved Luna.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Solar eclipse 20/3/15

Institute of Physics press release

Wednesday 18 March 2015

Leaders of the International Year of Light comment on the solar eclipse

See the path here

This Friday, 20 March 2015, the moon will cast a shadow about 100 miles wide in which the Sun is obscured completely, and it will be partly covered over a much more extensive area. The event will be a total eclipse for those in the Faroe Islands and Svalbard, but only a partial eclipse for viewers in the UK.

As well as being spectacular events, solar eclipses are also a good opportunity to do some valuable science because they allow observation of phenomena normally hidden or outshone by the Sun’s light.

The solar corona – the Sun’s plasma outer atmosphere – is one such area for study. We normally can’t see the corona (at visible-light wavelengths) since the Sun’s light is too bright, but eclipses provide a chance to get a better look, and astronomers are set to descend on the Faroe Islands and Svalbard in the hope of getting more insight into why the corona is so much hotter than the Sun’s surface.

2015 also marks the centennial of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity which was proven by Arthur Eddington during the 1919 eclipse. Arthur Eddington travelled to the island of Príncipe, off the west coast of Africa, where he took advantage of the solar eclipse to successfully test one of the predictions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity – that the path taken by light bends in a gravitational field, known as gravitational lensing.

A number of eclipse-viewing parties across the UK will be taking place to observe the eclipse safely and learn more about astronomy as well as a nationwide live weather experiment organised by scientists at Reading University who are asking the general public to send in their observations of the changes in weather that will occur during the eclipse.

Dr Beth Taylor, Chair of the UK National Committee for the International Year of Light on behalf of the IOP, said: “2015 is the International Year of Light and what a fantastic opportunity to reflect on the importance of light during this rare event. I hope people up and down the country, from Shetland to the Channel Isles, have the chance to experience it and that it has inspired people to think about how vital light really is and support IYOL's commitment to champion solar lighting in the developing world.”

Professor John Dudley, Chair of the International Year of Light Steering Committee, said: “The aim of the International Year of Light is to raise awareness of the importance of light and light-based technologies for sustainable development, and let’s view the March 20 eclipse as nature playing its own part in reminding us of just how important light is to us all.  An eclipse reminds us of just how central our sun is to our planet – it is sunlight that is the fundamental source of energy that drives life and solar energy is the natural sustainable energy solution for tomorrow.”

To find out more about the history of eclipses and how to view the eclipse on Friday safely, see our guide here http://www.iop.org/resources/topic/page_65318.html

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1.  Contact

For further information, please contact IOP’s Media Officer, Sophie Hetherton Tel: 020 7470 4921 Mob: 07808 641774 E-mail: Sophie.hetherton@iop.org

2. The Institute of Physics

The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society. We are a charitable organisation with a worldwide membership of more than 50,000, working together to advance physics education, research and application. We engage with policymakers and the general public to develop awareness and understanding of the value of physics and, through IOP Publishing, we are world leaders in professional scientific communications. Visit us at www.iop.org

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Extreme tides

Extreme tides set for February and September 2015.
Professor Kevin Horsburgh, of the National Oceanography Centre, writes about them

The ebb and flow of tides has fascinated mankind for thousands of years. Our understanding of how the worlds’ oceans respond to the gravitational forces of the Sun, the Earth and the moon has developed thanks to contributions from some of the most eminent scientific names in history: Newton, Bernoulli, Laplace and Lord Kelvin. Thanks to their work, modern computing power can now calculate tidal patterns many years ahead in just a few seconds.

For many places around the UK coastline the tides in 2015 will be the highest for tens of years. The majority of locations will see their highest tides around the 29th or 30th of September this year but some will experience extreme tides on 21st February. Details of the highest tides each year can be found on the website of the National Tidal and Sea Level Facility (NTSLF).

Tides are controlled by well-known astronomical cycles. Every fortnight - at new moon or full moon - the Earth, Sun and moon are in a straight line which causes an increase in tidal ranges. These higher than average tides are called spring tides (the word is thought to derive from the German or Anglo-Saxon word to “leap up”).

Yet some spring tides are higher than others. Tidal forces are strengthened if the moon is closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit (astronomers call this perigee). Tide generating forces are also enhanced when the Sun and the moon are directly overhead at the equator. For the Sun this happens on or around 21 March or September (the equinoxes). Spring tides are always higher at these times of year. The moon’s orbit also takes it above and below the equator over a period of 27.2 days. Just as with the Sun, the tide generating forces are greatest when the moon is directly overhead at the equator.

Very large spring tides occur when these astronomical factors coincide. Approximately every 4.5 years the moon is closest to the Earth, and is also overhead at the equator, at either the March or September equinox. In some places, these extreme tidal conditions can cause water levels to be 0.5m higher than a normal spring tide. But it is important to remember that stormy weather has a greater impact than exotic tides. Storm surges, due to low pressure and high winds, can raise sea levels by up to 3m around the UK coastline.

The high tides predicted for 2015 are due to a very slow change in the moon’s orbit, which is inclined to the plane in which Earth orbits the Sun (1a).  The moon’s orbit cuts this surface at an angle of approximately 5 degrees. Over 18.6 years the moon’s orbit slowly rotates around so it cuts through the solar orbit in a different place. This so-called nodal cycle has the effect of changing how far above or below the equator the moon can reach in its orbit.

In 2015 the moon’s orbital excursion above or below the equator takes the minimum value of 18 degrees.  This slightly increases the chances of the moon being directly overhead at the equator coinciding with the other factors that contribute to extreme tidal forces.

Scientists at Liverpool pioneered the modern scientific study of tides. From 1924 until the late 1950's tidal predictions for two-thirds of the world were calculated at the Liverpool Observatory and Tidal Institute – which eventually became part of the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). The first ever public tide table, essential for navigation and commerce, was published in 1770 based on observations made by William Hutchinson who was the dock-master at Liverpool.

Professor Kevin Horsburgh, Head of the Marine Physics and Ocean Climate research group at the NOC, said:

“NOC scientists continue to lead the world in the study of tides and all factors contributing to sea level change. The 18.6 year cycle is a fascinating result of heavenly motions. Whilst many features of tides have been known for centuries we are still making new discoveries – for instance we recently showed how slow changes in global sea level can affect the ocean tides”.


(1a) plane is a two-dimensional surface - imagine an enormous sheet of glass containing Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Adam Hart Davies on tides

Adam Hart-Davies explains Tides in this YouTube clip and there are other assorted links from others trying to Explain IT

Monday, March 09, 2015

What is Time & Tide?

Launching for the Raft Race 2013

The Time and Tide project is a community science project, funded by Business Innovation and Skills, that will raise awareness of the tides and the impact they have on our local environment. The project is managed by local Christchurch business Katalytik. We're delighted to be working with Christchurch Activities for Young People (CAYP) and the National Oceanography Centre to engage young people in exploring the tidal system and the harbour environment around Christchurch.

Have you ever wondered why we have a double high tide?  

• Is it because of the Rivers Stour and Avon emptying into the harbour? 
• Is it because of the Isle of Wight? 

Over the next 6 months we'll be exploring this phenomenon and then sharing it with you on 21/22 March 2015.


The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is pleased to support this project which takes science into a community setting. It is our hope as a result of the audience being engaged with this project that they will feel better informed about science issues affecting them and be inspired to be involved further in the future.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014