How Waves Change with Tidal Changes micro-lesson

This lesson is about tides and how they change. This affects surf waves because surfers need a tide that is right for each surf spot which is usually around 1 to 2 meters. First, I'll talk about daily tidal changes. Each day, there are two high tides and two low tides. This is caused by the gravity of the moon dragging one big wave across the surface of the earth. The moon's gravitational pull creates two high tides here and here and two low tides here and here. So, this creates daily tide. The moon revolves around the earth once a month and the sun and moon's tidal pull affect each other. When the moon and sun are perpendicular like this, this is called a neap tide and has very small tidal changes because the pull of the moon and the pull of the sun almost cancel each other out and tidal changes can be really small. This position of the moon and earth is called a spring tide and has big tidal changes. This happens because the sun and moon align and pull tides in the same direction making the pull stronger. This alignment also happens twice a month. So, surfers who understand all of this have an easier time picking the best tides and time to surf.