Partridge Island (Nova Scotia) - Tidal Statistics

Tidal Statistics

An interpretative panel at the lookoff on the Partridge Island hiking trail gives figures on tidal flows through the "Minas Gut", the section of the basin from Cape Blomidon to Cape Split and across to Partridge Island. "On each run of tide through this channel," it says, "flows 100 billion tons of water." The panel adds that more water passes through this channel each day than "the combined discharge of all the world's fresh water rivers." Harnessing this tidal energy, it says, could generate enough electricity to equal "250 medium sized nuclear power plants." During each tide, more than eight cubic kilometres of water are forced through a channel that is barely five kilometres (3.1 miles) wide, raising and lowering the water levels inside the Minas Basin by 12 to 15 metres (39 to 49 feet). Tidal currents in the channel have been calculated to reach speeds of nearly 20 kilometres per hour (12.4 miles per hour).

Bay of Fundy tides are the highest in the world and the highest of all occur in the Minas Basin. Several factors affect the Fundy tides including water depth and the shape of the coastline. Both contribute to a natural Fundy tidal oscillation, or flow of water back and forth, of about half a day, almost matching the half-day tidal cycle of the outside North Atlantic. This matching tidal cycle amplifies Fundy's tidal range as water flows in and out of the Bay across the threshold of the Gulf of Maine.