The fascinating phenomenon of tides can be modeled and predicted relatively simply as a sum of sinusoids, with a different set of amplitudes and phases for each location. In this presentation I discuss tide prediction using mechanical and digital computers.

Tide predictions are typically plotted graphically, but they can also be sped up and converted to audible sound (a process called “sonification”) to provide a different perspective. I will discuss implementation details and play audio samples using harmonic constituent data from various NOAA tide stations.