King tides are a welcome phenomenon to those who enjoy witnessing the highest of tides, crashing over seawalls, and others who like to venture out into the exposed coastline in search of temporaril…
SANTA CRUZ — Twice a year, during the constant dizzying dance of the sun, moon and Earth, the stellar bodies align in such a way that the ocean’s waters are pushed and pulled into and away from our planet more than usual, leading to the highest and lowest tides of the year, known by the unofficial, regal moniker, king tides.
The king tides occur along the Pacific Coast around the ringing in of the new year. This time around, king tides will happen this week, Friday and Saturday, and then again in late January. Although the official king tides occur on Friday and Saturday this week, unusually high and low tides occur in the days leading up to and after the king tides as well, with an extreme low tide happening Thursday around 4 p.m.
The low tide of the last king tide event exposes tidepools and kelp beds along Pleasure Point with lots of room for explorers to social distance. King tides, caused by the gravitational force of the sun and the moon, create exceptionally high tides, and approximately seven hours later, exceptionally low tides on the same day.
In a similar fashion, the Earth orbits around the sun in an ovular path. When the Earth is at its closest point to the sun, or perihelion, the sun’s gravity tugs at the oceans with greater force, which occurs around the new year and makes for more dramatic tides. When the spring tide occurs at the perigee of the moon and perihelion of the sun concurrently, the result is the king tide.
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