Ebb Tide

Ebb tide is the part of the tidal cycle when the water level falls from high water toward low water and, in a tidal stream, the seaward outgoing flow that drains an estuary or inlet. It runs from high water to the next low water, about 6 hours 12 minutes in a semidiurnal regime set by M2 at 12.42 hours. The ebb stream often runs stronger and longer than the flood in river-fed estuaries because freshwater discharge reinforces the outflow. Slack water separates the ebb from the following flood, the moment to time depth-critical transits.