GAFD Seminar: Mattias Green (Bangor University)

Tides and tidally driven processes are key for the Earth System. Tidally driven mixing help regulate climate by driving large scale ocean circulation, and it drives nutrient fluxes which sustain primary production in the ocean. Tidal drag increases day length and leads to a stabilisation of the Earth-Moon system’s orbits, and there are suggestions that the tides may have been key mechanisms around major evolution events. Over the past decade, our ability to simulate tides and the associated processes throughout Earth’s history has given new insight into the influence of tides on these processes, including on other planets. Here, I will show how tides have changed on long geological timescales and use a series of case studies to illustrate the importance of explicitly including tidal processes in Earth system science.