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Tides

Tides

The sea comes
and goes.

A beach, a turning Earth, and the pull of the Moon and Sun.

Moon & tides

New Moon

Spring tides

From above the North Pole · sizes and bulges exaggerated

Explore a lunar month Day 0.0

Phase shortcuts pause at noon near each phase. Moving the slider also pauses time.

An idealised coast. Real tides depend on the shape and depth of the ocean, weather and location. This is not a tide forecast. Learn about tides ↗

Coast and tide chart

At the shoreline

DayDay 0 · 12:00

Water level

Near high water+1.46 mrelative to mean sea level

Spring–neap range2.92 midealised envelope

The next 48 hours

At 1×, 1 day takes 48 seconds

body > main { display: none; }.simulation-fallback { max-width: 720px; margin: auto; padding: 24px; line-height: 1.6; }.simulation-fallback img { width: 100%; height: auto; }← Explore all worlds

Tides

Watch the sea rise and fall along a sandy coast. Explore how the Moon and Sun combine to create spring and neap tides.

Tidal water around a wooden jetty and striped gauge, with four pine trees rooted on the grassy coast.

Enable JavaScript in a browser with WebGL 2 to run this interactive simulation.

The Moon and Sun pull on the ocean. As Earth turns, the sea rises and falls along the coast.

At new and full Moon, the gap between high and low water is bigger. These are spring tides. At quarter Moons, the gap is smaller. These are neap tides.
The blue outline shows two bulges in the ocean, made bigger so you can see them. The gold dot marks our coast as Earth turns.
The gauge shows the water level. The chart shows how it will change over the next 48 hours in this model.

Try this: Compare New and First quarter. Then choose 5× to watch the water cover and uncover the beach.