This rotation is caused by the earth's rotation, and unless modified by local conditions, is clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The speed usually varies throughout the tidal cycle, passing through two maximums in approximately opposite directions, and two minimums about halfway between the maximums in time and direction. Rotary currents can be depicted as in Figure A,

by a series of arrows representing the direction and speed of the current at each hour. This is sometimes called a current rose. Because of the elliptical pattern formed by the ends of the arrows, it is also referred to as a current ellipse.

In rivers or straits, or where the direction of flow is more or less restricted to certain channels, the tidal current is reversing; that is, it flows alternately in approximately opposite directions with an instant or short period of little or no current, called slack water, at each reversal of the current. During the flow in each direction, the speed varies from zero at the time of slack water to a maximum, called strength of flood or ebb, about midway between the slacks. Reversing currents can be indicated graphically, as in Figure B, by arrows that represent the speed of the current at each hour. The flood is usually depicted above the slack waterline and the ebb below it. The tidal current curve formed by the ends of the arrows has the same characteristic sine form as the tide curve. In illustrations and for certain other purposes it is convenient to omit the arrows and show only the curve.

A slight departure from the sine form is exhibited by the reversing current in a strait, such as East River, New York, that connects two tidal basins. The tides at the two ends of a strait are seldom in phase or equal in range, and the current, called hydraulic current, is generated largely by the continuously changing difference in height of water at the two ends. The speed of a hydraulic current varies nearly as the square root of the difference in height. The speed reaches a maximum more quickly and remains at strength for a longer period than shown in Figure B,

and the period of weak current near the time of slack is considerably shortened.

The current direction, or set, is the direction toward which the current flows. The speed is sometimes called the drift. The term "velocity" is often used as the equivalent of "speed" when referring to current, although strictly speaking "velocity" implies direction as well as speed. The term "strength" is also used to refer to speed, but more often to greatest speed between consecutive slack waters. The movement toward shore or upstream is the flood, the movement away from shore or downstream is the ebb. In a purely semidiurnal current unaffected by nontidal flow, the flood and ebb each last about 6 hours and 13 minutes. But if there is either diurnal inequality or nontidal flow, the durations of flood and ebb may be quite unequal.

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