Hi Louis
As far as i can find this seems to be the place!
Cheers
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 tis 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 12h 25m 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).
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 turbul;ence 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.
Quick Facts on Our Tides
- The highest tides on planet Earth occur near Wolfville, in Nova Scotia's Minas Basin. The water level at high tide can be as much as 16 metres (52 feet) higher than at low tide.
- Small Atlantic tides drive the Bay of Fundy/Gulf of Maine system near resonance to produce the huge tides.
- High tides happen every 12 hours and 25 minutes (or nearly an hour later each day) because of the changing position of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth.
- Near mid-tide at Cape Split, one may hear the "voice of the Moon" in the form of the roar emitted by turbulent tidal currents.
- At mid-tide, the flow in Minas Channel north of Blomidon equals the combined flow of all the rivers and streams on Earth!
- Nova Scotia bends when the tide comes in! As 14 billion tonnnes (14 cubin kilometres) of sea water flow into Minas Basin twice daily, the Nova Scotia countryside actually tilts slightly under the immense load.
- In mid-summer, crustaceans in the intertidaly mudflats provide a crucial source of food for hundreds of thousands of migrating shorebirds.
- The waters of the Minas Basin appear muddy, because the strong tidal currents cause erosion of the red soils along the shoreline and this soil is suspended in the water.
- When the tide is coming in, tidal bores (which look like a wave travelling against the flow of the river) surge up several rivers which flow into the Minas Basin. Some great tidal bores can be seen on the St. Croix, Meander, Shubenacadie, Maccan and Salmon River.
