The Bay of Fundy is a marine ecosystem that lies on the northeastern coast of North America, bordering parts of the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and the U.S. state of Maine. It encompasses about 62.5-thousand mi² (180-thousand km²) of marine coastal-shelf habitat, mostly less than about 660 ft (200 m) deep. The Bay is renowned for its exceptionally high tides, which can exceed 53 ft (16 m) in its upper reaches in the Minas Basin. These are higher tides than occur anywhere else in the world. During the peak tidal flooding of the Bay the flow of water is about 880-million ft³/s (25-million m³/s), equivalent to about 2000 times the average flow of the Saint Lawrence River.

The astonishing tides of the Bay of Fundy occur because its long shape, great size, and increasing up-bay shallowness result in its tidal waters "piling...