What are King Tides?
While the term ‘king tide’ isn’t a scientific term, it is used to describe an especially high tide event occurring twice a year, when there is alignment of the gravitational pull between sun and moon.
King tides:
- occur naturally and regularly,
- are predictable and expected, and
- are not an every day occurrence.
When king tides occur during cyclones, floods or storms, water levels can rise to higher levels and have the potential to cause great damage to property and the coastline. These events give us a window into the future impacts of sea level rise and large storms.
What is sea level rise?
Sea level rise is a symptom of a warming planet.
For millions of years, the average temperature of Earth has allowed a certain amount of moisture to be locked up in frozen reservoirs: glaciers and polar ice caps. This is changing very quickly due to the extreme volume of greenhouse gases humans are releasing into the atmosphere.
Sea level rise, climate change and king tides
To avoid confusion, it’s important to know that king tides aren’t part of climate change; they are a natural part of tidal cycles but they do give us a sneak preview of what higher sea levels could look like. The actual height reached by a king tide will depend on the local weather and ocean conditions on the day.
It is possible that by 2060 to 2070 we could experience tides of the magnitude of king tide events every month due to sea level rise induced by climate change.
This project aims to promote awareness of the impacts of sea level rise, and help to visualize coastal areas that are vulnerable to tidal inundation which can be monitored over time.