The drop in sea level observed over the last few days on the Moroccan coast is due to the tides, a natural phenomenon linked to the forces of attraction of the moon and the sun as it had nothing to do with a tsunami, the General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM) explained on Monday.
The decline is a result of the particular alignment of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun at the time of the full moon.
The phenomenon is “well known” and “nothing unusual” and has no connection with the tsunami phenomenon”, which “is a long wave generated by an underwater seismic tremor that causes a sudden displacement of the ocean dept”.
The tidal phenomenon is an oscillatory movement, causing a rise in sea level (high tide) and a fall in sea level (low tide).
Tides follow daily, monthly and seasonal rhythms. In the first case, on the Moroccan coast, tides are semi-diurnal, with two high tides and two low tides per day, separated by an interval of around 12 hours and 25 minutes on average,” the DGM explained.
As for the monthly rhythm, the superposition of the Moon’s and Sun’s movements results in the month’s highest high tides and lowest low tides, generally during the new moon (beginning of the lunar month) and the full moon (middle of the lunar month).
In terms of seasonal rhythm, “equinoxes and solstices affect the tides.” The spring and fall equinoxes, when the Sun is on the Earth’s equatorial plane, produce the highest high tides and the lowest low tides.
The DGM also says that the lowest sea level for the month of July 2024 throughout the whole Moroccan coast was recorded on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, “at the time of the full moon (16 Muharram 1446), when the Earth, Moon, and Sun were almost aligned”.
The reported heights were “0.15 to 0.20 meters in the Mediterranean and 0.60 meters in the Atlantic Ocean”, adds the Directorate, adding that “this is therefore a natural phenomenon that we regularly experience during the summer and winter equinoxes”.