What do you mean when you say that tidal buldges are mythical?
Ari, may I speak for both of us?
Dave, by "mythical" Ari means that there ain't no such thing as a tidal
bulge. General physics texts have been spreading false doctrine since
Newton. The ocean tides are driven by the Moon and Sun and should be viewed
as harmonic waves with the usual beats and complications caused by fuzzy
end nodes and a variable ocean depth (ie violin string thickness) -- besides
they are two-dimensional, so it is not a violin string, but a drum head with
an odd shape and various bumps and squiggles -- this for each ocean with
mild interactions between them.
I was hoping that an understanding of Rossby waves would shed some light so
I brought the topic up for discussion. But I find it difficult to penetrate
the oceanographic language barrier. I seem to be too old and senile to
understand that stuff. (Heavens, I forgot about retrograde motion the other
day and still haven't recovered.)
We had this discussion on the ocean tides a couple of years ago and I nearly
got thrown off the list for this position. I subsequently started a
tutorial for AJP but gave up -- I guess because I am not an oceanographer
and also I didn't know what more to say to be able to convince anyone.
If the list thinks it can stand another such discussion, please give some
questions/outline of what one could say in such a tutorial so it would be
helpful/convincing.