유럽의 초대형 조수: A European 'Supertide'

ALAN TAYLOR

Part of France's North Atlantic coast and southwestern England braced for their first giant tide of the millennium on Saturday as the alignment of the Sun and Moon created an ocean surge not seen since the 1990s. This so-called "supertide" or "tide of the century" with surges up to 14 meters high, actually happens every 18 years. The high tides have turned France's famed Mont Saint-Michel into an island, and sent bore tide waves into England's River Severn, and the extreme low tides have exposed areas of beach and rock unseen since 1997.

• An aerial view as a high tide submerges a narrow causeway leading to Mont Saint-Michel, on France's northern coast, on March 21, 2015. 

  AP Photo
  
  

• People gather to watch waves breaking on March 21, 2015 in Wimereux, northern France. 

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• A group of people walk on the mud flats at low tide around the Mont Saint-Michel 11th century abbey off France's Normandy coast on March 21, 2015. 

  Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
  
  

• Sebastien Daligault, a guide at the Bay Saint-Michel, stands knee-deep in mud as tourists watch nearby during a walking tour at low tide around the 11th century abbey on March 21, 2015. 

  Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
  
  

• Surfers limber up as they wait to ride the wave of the tidal bore called Severn bore on the River Severn at Newnham in Gloucestershire, England, on March 21, 2015. 

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• Surfers catch the tidal bore wave on the River Severn at Minsterworth in Gloucestershire, England on March 21, 2015. 

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• Surfers ride the wave of the tidal Severn bore on the River Severn at Newnham, England on March 21, 2015. 

  Geoff Caddick/AFP/Getty Images
  
  

• People dot the beach as they dig for shellfish during a record low tide in Saint Malo, western France, on March 21, 2015. 

  Stephane Mahe/Reuters
  
  

• People stand along the waterfront as a wave crashes onto a seawall during the rising tide in Saint Malo, on March 21, 2015. 

  Stephane Mahe/Reuters
  
  

• Mont Saint-Michel, off France's Normandy coast, on March 20, 2015, nearly surrounded by the English Channel following exceptionally high spring tides. 

  Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
  
  

• People make their way through waters during the outgoing tide at the Mont Saint-Michel 11th century abbey on March 21, 2015. 

  Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
  
  

• People sit on an embankment as the incoming high tide surrounds Mont Saint-Michel, off France's Normandy coast, on March 21, 2015. 

  Pascal Rossignol / Reuters