how do i compute for high and low tides?

Answer 1

It's complicated stuff. I often need to know high and low tides and found the best way is to buy a program that has them computed for the next few years. The prog I use is called Tide Plotter. They produce European, American and Australain versions. You can buy it for £10.95 (about $22), you can also download a free trial version. This is the website... http://www.belfieldsoftware.co.uk/

If it's tides for today of the next few days you can often find these published alongside weather forecasts - check sites which have local forecasts or check your local newspapers.

Answer 2

This is complicated stuff involving the gravitational pull of the sun and moon on the oceans.

On the NOAA web page there is a history of how tides were predicted including machines that were created to predict the tides using mathematical equations. That of course evolved into computers and programs to predict tides.

The web page is: http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/predhist.html#Up

When I lived buy the ocean, I used to just buy a tide book that gave the tides for the entire year. The book also included lots of useful little tid bits of knowledge about fishing and boating.