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vfourpointone-flashxhigh — 01 / 05

Tide Gauge

The harbour recorded one day of water and handed you three dials: a lunar constituent, a solar one, and a daily one. Add them up and you get the tide — including the spring-neap beat nobody drew on purpose. Get the curve within ten centimetres and the gauge is calibrated.

error—
now0.00 m
best—

Three dials, one day of water. Move a constituent and watch the sum change shape.

Constituents

Periods are fixed by physics: M2 turns every 12.42 h, S2 every 12.00 h, K1 every 23.93 h. Because M2 and S2 drift in and out of step, their sum breathes a spring-neap envelope — match either amplitude badly and the breath goes wrong at the edges of the day, not the middle. Error is the RMS of your curve against the recording. Keys: 1 2 3 pick a dial, Space compare, R new recording.