Tidal changes are the net result of multiple influences that act over varying periods. These influences are called tidal constituents. The primary constituents are the Earth's rotation, the positions of the Moon and the Sun relative to Earth, the Moon's altitude (elevation) above the Earth's equator, and bathymetry.
Variations with periods of less than half a day are called harmonic constituents. Conversely, cycles of days, months, or years are referred to as long period constituents.
The tidal forces affect the entire earth, but the movement of the solid Earth is only centimeters. The atmosphere is much more fluid and compressible so its surface moves kilometers, in the sense of the contour level of a particular low pressure in the outer atmosphere.
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Famous quotes containing the words tidal and/or constituents:
“And now it is once more the tidal wave
That when it was swept by, leaves summits stained.
Oh, blood will out. It cannot be contained.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The men who carry their points do not need to inquire of their constituents what they should say, but are themselves the country which they represent: nowhere are its emotions or opinions so instant and so true as in them; nowhere so pure from a selfish infusion.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)