Why do the ocean tides change so dramatically from summer to winter?

Question

iv been surfn bascialy all my life and i notice the high and low tides change throght out the year..i kno all about the time and change of tides and that but in summer its allways lower and in winter its always higher..why is that?

Answer 1

As the Earth circles the Sun the angle of the tilt of the Earth changes.  Sometimes the northern part of the Earth leans toward the sun then six months later is leans away. The Suns gravitational pull is therefor changing the direction is pulls on the water from.   I hope this helps a little.

Answer 2

Tides are caused by the combined gravitational pull of the sun and moon .Sometimes they reinforce each other and somtimes the sun's gravitational force (whose influence is less when compared to that of moon)partially neutralises that of the moon.

In summer(for northern hemisphere),the earth is in the apogee position(farthest from the sun) of its elliptical orbit and the gravitational pull of the sun becomes less due to more distance.In winter,the earth is in the perigee position(nearest to the sun) of its elliptical orbit and the gravitational pull becomes comparatively more.

The variation of the moon's pull between summer and winter is not much whereas the pull due to the sun varies significantly as above said.

This may be reason for lower tides in summer and higher tides in winter.

Answer 3

Its not the sun that dramatically affects the tide, its the moon, because it has a stronger gravitational pull, thats why there are 2 high and 2 low tides everyday. I wouldn't think that summer and winter have different tides, however, but maybe the moons been closer to the earth during the winter time, therefore having a stronger pull and in the summer time having a weaker pull.