No vertical change in tides.

Master the Navigation, Seamanship, and Shiphandling (NSS) – Officer of the Deck (OOD) Phase 2 Exam with engaging flashcards and multiple choice questions, complete with hints and explanations. Prepare comprehensively for your test!

Multiple Choice

No vertical change in tides.

A stand is a period in the tidal cycle when the water level changes very little—the height stays essentially the same for a short time. As the tide moves from rising to falling (or vice versa), the rate of change of the water surface momentarily drops to near zero. That brief plateau is the stand, where there’s effectively no vertical movement in the tide. This is different from slack tide, which is about the absence of horizontal current—the turning point between flood and ebb—while the water level may still be close to high or low water but the concept here focuses on the lack of vertical change. A spring tide, by contrast, produces the largest vertical movement, not none. A diurnal tide refers to a pattern in the cycle (one high and one low each day), not to a period of zero vertical change.

A stand is a period in the tidal cycle when the water level changes very little—the height stays essentially the same for a short time. As the tide moves from rising to falling (or vice versa), the rate of change of the water surface momentarily drops to near zero. That brief plateau is the stand, where there’s effectively no vertical movement in the tide.

This is different from slack tide, which is about the absence of horizontal current—the turning point between flood and ebb—while the water level may still be close to high or low water but the concept here focuses on the lack of vertical change. A spring tide, by contrast, produces the largest vertical movement, not none. A diurnal tide refers to a pattern in the cycle (one high and one low each day), not to a period of zero vertical change.

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