The Bay of Fundy has the biggest tides in the world. Everybody knows that, right? After all, thousands of tourists come to see them.
But it’s not necessarily true, say scientists at the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS), a division of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
In response to highest-tide claims by residents around Northern Quebec’s Leaf Basin in Ungava Bay, scientists took measurements in both bays.
The results constituted, essentially, a tie. Bragging rights aside, here are the scientific facts.
“We measured 17 meters (55.7743 feet) in the Bay of Fundy,” said Christian Solomon, a CHS tidal office assistant operating out of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia, “and 16.8 meters 55.1181 feet) in Ungava Bay.”
He quickly added, “But you have to factor in a margin of error plus or minus five decimeters (1.64042 feet) so the tides are, for all intents and purposes, comparable.”
Solomon also said that several readings were taken over time at both locations.
“I want to make it clear we have no vested interest in this one way or the other,” he said. “What prompted the survey was tourism. We deal with navigation and navigational aids. And this had absolutely nothing to do with navigation.”
For what it’s worth, The Guinness Book of World Records lists the Bay of Fundy as having the highest tides on the planet.