Tides in the Mediterranean and Adjacent Seas 



405 



as caused directly by the tide-generating forces. Any influence from the 

 Bosphorus is hardly to be expected. Under these circumstances, its tides 

 will be very small, the more so as its natural period of around 5 h (see p. 200) 

 differs considerably from that of the tidal forces. Sterneck (1912, 1915, 1926) 

 determined for four localities the phase and amplitude for the principal 

 components listed in Table 52. The observations reveal for the semi-diurnal 



Table 52. Harmonic constants for the Black Sea 



(//in cm; x in degrees). 



tides the presence of an amphidromy cum sole (clockwise). This amphidromy 

 cannot be caused by the rotation of the earth acting on a longitudinal oscil- 

 lation in the west-east direction. The amplitudes of these tides are very small: 

 in the centre of the west and east coast they are about 9 cm, in the centre 

 of the north coast (Crimea) about 3-2 cm. 



Fig. 172. Amphidromy of the semi-diurnal tides in the Black Sea. Establishments of the 



stations (according to Sterneck). 



Sterneck (1922, p. 81) has given a schematic theory of the tides of the 

 Black Sea, in order to explain this remarkable amphidromy. He assumes 

 that the tidal forces act synchronously upon the entire water-mass and he 



