Lesson 3: Putting it All Together with Moon Phases



PurposeStudents will:Research and compile tide data for a one-month period for Pensacola, Florida, Anchorage, Alaska, and Portland, Maine. Create continuous tide charts for each location.Find and print maps of each tidal basin.Research and compile moon phase data for the one-month period that tidal data was compiled.Overlay moon phase data with tide data in order to attempt to recognize a pattern/relationship between phases, tides, and tidal basins.BackgroundFor most coastal locations, high tides and low tides follow each other in a regular pattern. The level of the water at each high tide and at each low tide, however, varies from day to day and from location to location. In the same way, the difference in water level between high tide and low tide, called the tidal range, is constantly changing. The greatest tidal ranges occur near the times of the new moon and the full moon and are called spring tides. The smallest tidal ranges occur near the times of the quarter moon phases and are called neap tides.Another factor that influences tidal range is the shape of the bay in which the tide occurs. Bays that become narrower away from the ocean cause the water level to rise higher as the tide moves into the bay. Such bays tend to have a large tidal range. On the other hand, bays that widen away from their mouths allow the water to spread out. These bays tend to have small tidal ranges. This activity examines the tides at three locations: Portland, Maine; Anchorage, Alaska; and Pensacola, Florida.Procedure Historical tide data can be found for each location at the following links:Anchorage, Alaska: Portland, Maine: Pensacola, Florida: Using the “Begin Date” and “End Date,” students should compile data with “Hourly WL” as their Interval, “MLLW” as their Datum, units in feet, and using GMT as their time zone. Click “View Data.”Open NotePad. Paste the data into NotePad, and save the data as a .txt file, using the following designation: CityName_Month_Year.txt (where city name would be either Portland, Anchorage, Pensacola)Import this data into Excel. THE COLUMN LABELED “Pred 6” SHOULD NOT BE IMPORTED. This represents the predicted water level. Highlight this column and select the “Do Not Import Column (skip)” radio button. The “Vrfy HH” is the actual, measured water level for the given station at the given time. As you continue Step 3 of the Import process, highlight the second column from the left (“Date”), and choose “YMD” from the Date radio button drop-down menu.Create three monthly tide charts: one for Portland, one for Anchorage, one for Pensacola. This can be done either in Excel, or by hand.Research the historical phases of the moon for that month. On the tide chart that was created for each location, overlay the phase of the moon with the date on which it occurred. It would certainly be okay if moon phase is limited to the “major” phases (new, first quarter, full, and third quarter). A link to historical moon phase data is below: Students will write a conclusion and analysis paper detailing: their conclusions based upon the analysis of their data and the relationship, if any, between moon phases and tides and shape of the tidal basin and level of tides. Students should include an additional section at the end of their paper in which they reflect on the project, including their feelings on whether it was a positive, productive learning experience and the ease with which they were able to complete the data-gathering and analysis process.Students should also submit their tide and moon charts for the creation of a class-level continuous chart for each location for the time frame represented through their research. ................
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