Names: ______Date: ______

TIDAL PATTERNS FROM MONTEREY BAY – 24 hour

Purpose: Students will be able to analyze and describe the tidal patterns (change in elevation of water) of Monterey Bay over a 24-hour period of time.

Time Allotted:15 minutes

Directions:

1)Open up the Monterey Bay flash movie from the ASPIRE web site. You should see a graphic of the beach with some trees. On the right hand side of the screen, you will see a calendar, a clock bar with time of day, and phases of the moon.

2) You will need to collect data for an entire day. Select a month and a day from the calendar.

3)Adjust the clock bar all the way to the left (12 am). Record data every hour for 24 hours for the day you have selected. You will need to adjust the hour using the mouse, and then click on the “Record Data” icon for each hour during the day.

4) Once you have recorded the data for each hour, click on the “View Data” icon. This will list all of the data you have selected. Plot this data on the graph below to assist you in completing the results and conclusions section below. You can also print this data if you choose. If you will be collecting data later for an entire month, wait to print the data then.

GRAPH

Results and Conclusions:

1)Look at the graph to answer the following:

  1. How many high tides are there?
  2. At what time(s) do the high tides occur?
  3. How many low tides are there?
  4. At what time(s) do the low tides occur?
  5. How many hours are there between high tide(s) and low tides(s)?

2)Explain (2-3 sentences) the relationship between the number of tides per day and a 24-hour day.

3)What must be responsible for the pattern of tides that you see?

  1. The moon orbits the Earth once each day.
  2. The Earth spins on its own axis once each day.

4)Hypothesize what would happen if the earth stopped spinning on its own axis. Which of the following would occur? (More than one answer is possible.)

  1. The pattern of tides would remain the same.
  2. There would be no tides.
  3. The temperature of the ocean would change.
  4. Circulation of ocean waters would decrease.

Names: ______Date: ______

TIDAL PATTERNS FROM MONTEREY BAY – 29 Day

Purpose: Students will be able to analyze and describe the tidal patterns (change in elevation of water) of Monterey Bay over a 29-day period of time and explain how these tidal patterns are affected by moon phases.

Time Allotted:20 minutes

Directions:

1)Open up the Monterey Bay flash movie from the ASPIRE web site. You should see a graphic of the beach with some trees. On the right hand side of the screen, you will see a calendar, a clock bar with time of day, and phases of the moon.

2)You will need to collect data for 29 days. Select a month and a day to begin collecting data from the calendar.

3)Select a time of day to collect data. It can be any time, but the time should remain the same for all 29 days of data collection. Remember, time of day stays the same; only the day changes.

4) Record the data for all 29 days using the “Record Data” icon. When you have finished, click on the “View Data” icon. This will list all of the data you have selected. Plot this data on the graph below to assist you in completing the results and conclusions section below. You can print this data now if you choose. DO NOT CLOSE THIS WINDOW NOW.

5)Plot the data on the graph below.

6)Go back through the days of data collection and underneath the horizontal “Days” portion of the graph draw what the moon looks like on each day.

7)Now label the following phases of the moon right beside your sketches of the moon: New Moon, 1st Quarter, Full Moon, 3rd quarter.

8)Use your data to identify patterns and answer the questions in the results and conclusions section.

GRAPH

Results and Conclusions:

1)Look at the graph to answer the following:

  1. What day(s) are the tides the highest?
  2. What phase of the moon does this correspond to?
  3. What day(s) are the tides the lowest?
  4. What phase of the moon does this correspond to?

2)Below are diagrams of the Earth-moon system at each quarter phase of the moon. Monterey Bay is marked with an X. Identify each phase and the day on which it occurred for your data.

Day: ______Day: ______Day: ______Day: ______

Phase: ______Phase: ______Phase: ______Phase: ______

3)Using a dashed line ( - - - - - ), draw in the tidal effect around the Earth’s surface that is illustrated by your data. Label high tide (H) and low tide (L) for each diagram using Monterey Bay data.

4)Will point Y have high tides at the same time as Monterey Bay (X)? Will point Z have high tides at the same time as Monterey Bay (X)? Answer YES or NO for both questions, and explain your answers in 2-3 sentences.

5)What determines the time of day different locations on the Earth will experience high tide or low tide?

29 day chart



24 hour chart