tidal excursion

tidal excursion

[′tīd·əl ik′skər·zhən] (oceanography) The net horizontal distance over which a water particle moves during one tidal cycle of flood and ebb; the distances traversed during ebb and flood are rarely equal in nature, since there is usually a layered circulation in an estuary, with a net surface flow in one direction compensated by an opposite flow at depth.