Credit: Sea Photo
Tides as Motion
Although the ocean may appear to be a still and stagnant place from land, this is far from the truth; it is constantly moving. The ebb and flow of the ocean tides are continuous. Waves carry energy across entire ocean basins, and tides rise and fall daily around the globe.
TIDAL Exhibit in Sydney, Australia. Credit: Art & About Sydney
A Data-Driven Tide Exhibit
Mike Daly, a digital artist based in Sydney, created an exhibit that mimics the movement of the tides called TIDAL. It is a data visualization of concurrent tides in Sydney and its sister cities. The tidal data shown in the visualization is a projection for the year 2050, twelve months of information compressed into 105 minutes.
TIDAL Exhibit in Sydney, Australia. Credit: Mike Daly
Why Tide Patterns Are Changing
Even though we have been able to predict the ocean’s tides for a long time, climate change, the destruction of coastal wetlands, and river dredging may alter those predictions. The exhibit illustrates the stability of the ocean tides, perhaps as a memory for accurate tidal forecasts of the past.
Daly has won numerous awards for his virtual reality experiences, light installations, films, data visualizations, and projection video art for stage performances.
Sources and Further Reading
- Mike Daly TIDAL exhibit
- Coastal tide and sea-level research referenced in the article
