Fundy Tides EarthCache
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Welcome to Quoddy Head State Park home of some of the largest tides in the world.
All tides are primarily caused by the Moon, so they are on what one might call "Moon Time." The moon circles the Earth about every 24 hours and 55 minutes, meaning that it rises about an hour later each day. Generally there are two high and two low tides each day, for a total of four. The pull of gravity from the Moon and the Sun are the primary cause for tides. The effect is the greatest when the Moon and Sun are in a straight line with the Earth, which occurs during a Full Moon or New Moon. When this is coupled with the configuration of the shore and ocean floor the tidal range is greatly affected. Since the Bay of Fundy has a large mouth, with an ever-narrowing passageway to the head of the bay, the enormous volume of incoming tidal water is forced upward, causing the great tidal differences.
The Earth and Moon together--due to their gravitational attraction to each other--act as one unit. Think of this body as something like a sledge-hammer, where the head of the hammer (the largest and heaviest part) represents the Earth. The handle represents the distance between the Earth and the Moon, as well as the mass of the Moon, itself. If you try to balance the hammer on your finger, you'll see that the center of gravity isn't in the center of the hammer's head, but is somewhere between the center of the hammer's head and the bottom end of the handle. It's the same with the Earth-Moon "unit." So, the Earth actually rotates on an axis other than the actual North-Pole-to-South-Pole axis; it rotates on what is called the "Barycenter." The Barycenter is the center of gravity of the Earth-Moon unit. As the Moon revolves around the Earth, the Barycenter moves with it! Therefore, the axis on which the Earth rotates is constantly moving! And, since the Moon's orbit around the Earth is an oval, not a circle, the Barycenter moves in and out, along with the Moon's distance from the Earth. Note, though, that if we were to average the location of the Barycenter, the result is very close to the North-Pole-to-South-Pole axis. Because the Barycenter is around 1,000 miles below the Earth's surface, that means that the side of the Earth that's opposite the Moon is travelling faster than the side of the Earth that faces the Moon. Therefore, there's a great centrifugal force on the Earth's side opposite the Moon. Thus, the Earth's rotational axis (running from the true North Pole to the South Pole) is sometimes shown as one that wobbles a bit. This great centrifugal force throws the water outward, creating the high tide on the side of the Earth that's opposite the Moon. This far-side high tide, although high, is not as great as the high tide on the Moon's side of the Earth. Therefore, there is one "higher high tide" and one "lower high tide," as well as one "higher low tide" and "lower low tide" each day.
How much power is there? Well, during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency, hydroelectric engineer Dexter Cooper, who honeymooned on Campobello Island, observed the massive amounts of seawater entering Passamaquoddy Bay with each incoming tide. Dexter got the idea of harnessing the tide's energy to produce electricity. Cooper was successful in enlisting the U.S. federal government in funding the project. Cooper's idea was to dam off both Passamaquoddy Bay and Cobscook Bay. The incoming tide would be trapped by the gates and dams in Passamaquoddy Bay. Then, the water would be allowed to escape through turbine generators located at the isthmus on Moose Island, Eastport, with the water escaping into Cobscook Bay, where it would be held until low water. At that point, the water would be let out into the Bay of Fundy via another set of gates. The project was begun, headquartered at Quoddy Village, Eastport, with tidal dikes built between Treat Island (Eastport) and Dudley Island (Lubec), and from Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation out to Carlow Island (Eastport) and then on to Moose Island, Eastport. Other dikes were planned, but were never constructed. The dike between Treat and Dudley islands can easily be seen at low water. Dikes built between Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation and Carlow Island, Eastport, and from Carlow Island to Moose Island, Eastport, form the causeway supporting Route 190 in that location. U.S. national politics ended the funding for the project, although attempts were made--through President Eisenhower's term in office--to revive it. While still technically feasible, the project is seen as impractical, considering the impact on the fishery and environment, along with current costs for completing the project. If you are interested the Quoddy Maritime Museum located in Eastport has a working scale model of the Tidal Power Project which was built for the original project showing what might have been.
The lighthouse that you are looking at was constructed 1808 and is called the West Quoddy Head Light. This is the easternmost lighthouse in the United States. Its light and fog cannon warned mariners of Quoddy's dangerous cliffs, ledges, and tides. Because of the tides the water is extremely cold which then meets the warm summer air causing the area to be extremely foggy so this light was among the first to use a fog bell and later a steam-powered foghorn. This lighthouse has greatly reduced shipwrecks in this foggy area, even as shipping increased. In 1858, the present red-and-white tower replaced the original, which is monitored and serviced by the U. S. Coast Guard, its light still shines through its original third-order Fresnel lens. In 1988 the light station became part of Quoddy Head State Park.
To log this Earthcache: You must do a little experiment on the beach with the results posted in your log. Find a rock near the shore and measure how high the rock is above the water. If you don’t have a ruler you will find that a dollar bill is six inches long and can work well as a ruler. Once you have measured the rock time how long it takes to cover the rock or uncover the rock. If you take the height of the rock and divide it by the time this will give you the rate of the tide, which should be included in your posted log. If you are good at math you may want to calculate the height of the tide, as one cycle is about 1500 minutes long. So if you multiply the rate times 1500 you will have the height of the tide. This method work well if you are about two hours from either a high tide or low tide. It also would be nice if you would post a photo so others would know what they have to look forward to at this earth cache.
If you enjoy this earthcache you may want to check the Maine Geological Survey located at (visit link)
They have developed a number of information sheets or field localities giving a great deal of information about geologic features. They also have a number of books and maps about Maine’s natural history/ geology that you might find interesting.
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