Ocean tides and related definitions: select the correct statement about daily timing, terminology, and forces that influence tides and currents.

Introduction / Context:
Tide prediction and coastal engineering rely on core astronomical and geophysical facts. A common exam check is whether you recognize the daily shift in tide times and can distinguish correct terms from incorrect statements about tidal mechanics.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• A lunar day is about 24 hours 50 minutes.
• High water, low water, lunitidal interval, and lunar transit have distinct meanings.
• Earth's rotation (Coriolis effect) influences currents, not the timing of high waters directly.

Concept / Approach:
Because the Moon advances in its orbit each day, a location on Earth requires roughly 50 additional minutes to realign under the Moon. Hence, successive high waters (or low waters) occur about 50 minutes later daily, popularly described as 'a little less than 1 hour later'.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Assess option (a): Correct; it captures the ≈50-minute daily delay tied to the lunar day.Assess option (b): Incorrect—'high water level' is a water level state; the time difference from the Moon’s transit to high water is the lunitidal interval, not the transit-to-transit difference.Assess option (c): Incorrect—tides arise from the combined gravitational effects of the Moon and Sun; gravity alone does not yield a 'tideless sea'.Assess option (d): Incorrect—the Coriolis parameter is zero at the equator and maximum at the poles; the statement reverses this.

Verification / Alternative check:
Textbook tide tables and astronomical references confirm the ≈50-minute daily shift and the definition of lunitidal interval.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• (b) Misuses terminology.
• (c) Mischaracterizes tidal forcing.
• (d) Reverses the latitude dependency of the Coriolis effect.
• (e) Cannot be correct since several statements are false.

Common Pitfalls:

• Confusing lunar day effects with solar day rhythms.
• Thinking 'spinning force' (Coriolis) is largest at the equator.

Final Answer:
The tides at any place occur a little less than 1 hour later, each succeeding day