Seen an interesting tidal bore recently?

Could I make an appeal to your readers through the Letters to the Editor page?

Over the past 15 years I’ve been researching the phenomenon of tidal river bores, that is, the wave that advances up a river marking the start of the flood tide. This is a very rare phenomenon — not many rivers produce bores, mainly because you need an exceptionally high tidal range. (The difference in height between low water and high water has to be as great as possible. )

I am aware that the area around Iqaluit is one of these special regions with a very high tidal range and I was wondering if any of your readers have ever seen a bore in any of the rivers in your area?

It is quite often the case that local people, especially fisherman or boatmen, may see bores, but they do not think it worth telling other people. As part of my study I am compiling a catalogue, and so if anybody in the Iqaluit area has seen a bore I would greatly appreciate the name of the river.

If you could supply any further information, such as the date and time when the bore was seen, the height of the wave, etc., this would be very helpful. Naturally, I suppose that bores would not be seen in the winter when the rivers are frozen.

Also, they are most likely when the tides are at their most extreme, for example spring tides rather than neap tides. There are many aspects to my study, including safety, as bores have quite often capsized small boats with loss of life.

So if anyone can help me with information I would be very grateful. If you want to see what a bore looks like there are three of my photographs at: