King tide for Eyre Peninsula

While high tides occur when the gravitational forces of the sun and moon are in line, winter king tides occur when the earth, moon and sun are aligned while the sun and moon are furthest from the earth.

Low air pressures and strong winds can further elevate sea level, resulting in tides that can peak above their predicted height.

Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula have a number of citizen science projects available where community members can get involved in monitoring the impacts of king tides on coastal environments.

Senior Natural Resources Management Officer Ben Smith would like the Eyre Peninsula residents to become involved.

“We are encouraging the community to take photos of king tide events and upload them online at www.kingtides.com.au,” Mr Smith said

“There are also a number of Pix Stix installed across the Eyre Peninsula at sites that are vulnerable to coastal flooding. People can take a photo at these sites and send it to us via SMS. These photos then go into an online database that allows everyone to view the changes at each site over time.

“With the global mean sea level predicted to rise by 18-48cm by 2050, king tide events may provide an insight into what the future high tides may look like across the Eyre Peninsula.

“These observations, combined with sea level rise modelling that is being undertaken across our region as part of the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) project will allow decision makers, faced with the problem of adapting to sea level rise, to monitor assets vulnerable to flooding.”

The king tide is predicted to peak on Wednesday at 2:46pm in Port Lincoln, 1:22pm in Streaky Bay and 7:30pm in Whyalla.

King tide observations can be entered at www.kingtides.com.au while the Pix Stix project can be viewed at www.pixstix.com.au.

For more information please contact Ben Smith at Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula on 08 8688 3111.