Moon Index Using MICA v.

2 Ephemerides

Jorge E. Capella, PhD (CaRA)

CaRA)
Moon Index
The empirical index presented herein considers the effects of:

1. The Moon’s phase – maximum forcing when Earth-Moon-

Sun are aligned on New and Full moon = syzygy
2. The distance from the Earth to the Moon – maximum effect
when closest, during lunar perigee
3. The Moon’s declination in its orbit around the Earth –
maximum effect when the Moon is right over us
Distance and Phase
The web page http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html provides
information on the occurrence of perigee-syzygy (PS) events.

•Such events occur on the average twice a year on different dates

and with different intensities depending on the synchronicity of the
astronomical PS event.
•Predictable.
•Their effect is global.
•Extreme tides
•Large amplitude seiching on continental and insular shelves (i.e.,
the south coast of PR)
•Tidal bores?
•Triggers for mass spawning aggregations of commercially
important fish species.
•Syzygy = sizigia in Spanish
Declination
The effect of the Moon’s declination is latitude-specific and
very important for PR since the maximum declination over
a lunar month varies from approximately 18 to 28 degrees
(mean of 25 degrees) and PR is located between 18.0 and
18.5 degrees North.

The effect on tides is symmetrical about the Equator so a

declination of 10 degrees has the same effect as a
declination of -10 degrees.

Minimum effect when over the Equator (declination=0)

Maximum effect when over PR (declination=18 or -18); 4

passes during a lunar month
Sources
Multiyear Interactive Computer Almanac, 1800-2050: Version 2.0 (2005)
Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Naval Observatory. Published by
Willmann-Bell, Inc., ISBN 0-943396-84-0.

MICA v.2 software was used to extract daily (UT1) geocentric moon ephemeris
data for 1990-2017, using the True Equator and Equinox of Date, and save them
in two files:
•Apparent Geocentric Positions
•Geocentric Physical Ephemeris: Illumination Parameters

Program mica_ts.for (©) reads the two MICA moon output files, calculates the
indices and generates normalized declination, distance, phase angle and total
time series for plotting.

Due to MICA output limitations only daily values from 1990-2017 are being used
in this calculation.
Normalized Indices (0 to 1)
Distance: Linear scaling from 0 to 1, corresponding to the
maximum and minimum Earth-Moon distance during 1990-2017,
respectively

Declination: Linear scaling from 0 (Moon over the Terrestrial

Equator) to 1 (Moon over a reference latitude = 18.25).

Phase: Absolute value of the cosine of the Sun-Earth-Moon

angle.

Total sum: Linear scaling of the unweighted sum of the distance,

declination and phase angle indices.

Maximum values for the various indices correspond to times

when the Moon is closest to the Earth (perigee), New or Full
Moon (syzygy), and Moon over PR.
 March 2011 Event
1.0

0.8
ed Contribution

0.6
Normalize

0.4 phase
distance
declination

0.2

0
03/01/11 03/08/11 03/15/11 03/22/11 03/29/11 04/05/11

Date
 March 2011 Event
1.0

0.8
alized Contribution

0.6
Total Norma

0.4

0.2

0
03/01/11 03/08/11 03/15/11 03/22/11 03/29/11 04/05/11

Date
 July 2009 Event
1.0

0.8

Normalized Contribution
0.6

0.4 phase
distance
declination

0.2
July 2009 Event
1.0
0
07/01/09 07/08/09 07/15/09 07/22/09 07/29/09 08/05/09

Date
0.8
Total Normalized Contribution

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
07/01/09 07/08/09 07/15/09 07/22/09 07/29/09 08/05/09

Date
 April 2003: Rene's Bore Event
1.0

0.8

Normalized Contribution
0.6

phase
0.4 distance
declination

0.2
April 2003: Rene's Bore Event
1.0

0
04/01/03 04/08/03 04/15/03 04/22/03 04/29/03 05/06/03

0.8 Date
Total Normalized Contribution

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
04/01/03 04/08/03 04/15/03 04/22/03 04/29/03 05/06/03

Date
Results and Conclusions
1. The March 2011 event will be of approximately similar
magnitude to the April 2003 and July 2009 events.

2. Lowest low tides are expected around March 22-24.

3. Larger than average tides (high and low) will occur

approximately from March 16-24.

4. Mass spawning aggregations of the mutton snapper and other

species may be triggered by this event.

5. Tidal bores may impinge at the La Parguera shelf break during

this event.

6. Large-amplitude seiching should be excited during this event.

Questions / Preguntas?
Preguntas?