Researches on the tides. Eighth series. On the progress of the diurnal inequality-wave along the coasts of Europe

Abstract

In the seventh series of these researches, the author pointed out the laws which the diurnal inequality of the height of high water follows, and showed that those laws are modified so as to exhibit very remarkable differences at different places, and to occasion some difficulty in conceiving the mechanical propagation of the tide-wave. He then suggested what appeared to be a possible solution of the difficulty; but as this suggestion was founded on facts from a few places only, he resolved to attempt to trace the progress of the wave which brings the diurnal inequality on some of the coasts, on which simultaneous observations were made at his request in June 1835; and the present memoir contains an account of the conclusions to which he has been led by this investigation. The details which he gives of the observations made, with this view, at nineteen different stations, appear to establish the conclusion, that the differences of diurnal inequalities at different places are governed by local circumstances, and do not form a progressive series.