Tides

In the course of a fascinating tricentennial history until today (Schwiderski 1980a), the modeling of tides in the world oceans has attracted the imagination and devotion of mathematicians and scientists alike. This attraction during the past 3 centuries is reflected in some 5000 scientific papers published since Newton (1687) (the number 5000 being an interpolation from a table by Cartwright (1977)). The sustained enormous interest was prompted by the captivating beauty of the tidal phenomenon itself, practical interest at first being only in coastal waters. Indeed, the periodic rising and falling of the water level has always been both beneficial and troublesome to land developers, harbor engineers, and coastal navigators. To assist and warn maritime people, early layman tidalists observed, recorded, and predicted high and low tides by simple rules of thumb in harbors and other waterfront areas.