The most recent issue of ArcUser, a magazine for Esri GIS software users spotlights cartographer Dave Taylor’s striking Oceanic Oscillations map.
The map shows tidal ranges around the world using a black background and the Spilhaus Projection. The projection was created to show an unbroken view of the world’s oceans. All map projections require distortions, this one maximizes them on the land, particularly in South America (see how it sprawls across the left) and in China.
The color scheme emphasizes the macrotidal areas, such as Canada’s Fundy and Ungava Bays in a bright white. Areas with low tidal variation such as the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico fade into the background.
Contour lines show tidal variation. I’ve never thought about tides existing in the middle of oceans but there they are.
It’s strange how few areas exist between the extreme 16 meter tides of the Bay of Fundy and the 2 meter ranges. Only 1% of the world’s tides are above 4 meters according to the legend. Here is one of the few purple areas on the map, off the coast of China.
In the article Taylor discusses the challenge of keeping the Sea of Japan, with its very low tidal range from disappearing into the land. You can see this from the above image. Perhaps a color less similar to the land’s black could have been used for the lowest category. Additional texture was created by adding some shaded bathymetry as seen in the trenches off the coast of Japan above. Overall the combination of colors, projection and subject matter create a stunning visual effect. This is best appreciated when viewing the map as a whole (seen at the top but repeated below for emphasis.)