Ocean tides

Earth's ocean tides are initiated by the tidal force (a gradient in intensity) of Moon's gravity and are magnified by a host of effects in Earth's oceans. The gravitational tidal force arises because the side of Earth facing the Moon (nearest it) is attracted more strongly by the Moon's gravity than is the center of the Earth and—even less so—the Earth's far side. The gravitational tide stretches the Earth's oceans into an ellipse with the Earth in the center. The effect takes the form of two bulges—elevated sea level relative to the Earth; one nearest the Moon and one farthest from it. Since these two bulges rotate around the Earth once a day as it spins on its axis, ocean water is continuously rushing towards the ever-moving bulges. The effects of the two bulges and the massive ocean currents chasing them are magnified by an interplay of other effects; namely frictional coupling of water to Earth's rotation through the ocean floors, inertia of water's movement, ocean basins that get shallower near land, and oscillations between different ocean basins. The magnifying effect is a bit like water sloshing high up the sloped end of a bathtub after a relatively small disturbance of one's body in the deep part of the tub.

Gravitational coupling between the Moon and the ocean bulge nearest the Moon affects its orbit. The Earth rotates on its axis in the very same direction, and roughly 27 times faster, than the Moon orbits the Earth. Thus, frictional coupling between the sea floors and ocean waters, as well as water's inertia, drags the peak of the near-Moon tidal bulge slightly forward of the imaginary line connecting the centers of the Earth and Moon. From the Moon's perspective, the center of mass of the near-Moon tidal bulge is perpetually slightly ahead of the point about which it is orbiting. Precisely the opposite effect occurs with the bulge farthest from the Moon; it lags behind the imaginary line. However it is 12,756 km farther away and has slightly less gravitational coupling to the Moon. Consequently, the Moon is constantly being gravitationally attracted forward in its orbit about the Earth. This gravitational coupling drains kinetic energy and angular momentum from the Earth's rotation (see also, Day and Leap second). In turn, angular momentum is added to the Moon's orbit, which lifts the Moon into a higher orbit with a longer period. The effect on the Moon's orbital radius is a small one, just 0.10 ppb/year, but results in a measurable 3.82 cm annual increase in the Earth-Moon distance.^[64] Cumulatively, this effect becomes ever more significant over time; since astronauts first landed on the Moon approximately 40 years ago, it is 1.54 metres farther away.