From the early work of Prince Albert I of Monaco, the first president of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans, to today, the Association has promoted and supported international research and cross-cutting activities in ocean sciences, building on the work of the many far-sighted scientists who, over the last century, have addressed seemingly intractable problems. This paper describes key events in IAPSO's history and the roles played by the scientists involved.

This is the first investigation of the worldwide distribution of the degree-3 M1 ocean tide using over 800 tide gauge records and a global tide model. M1 is confirmed to have a geographical variation in the Atlantic and other basins consistent with the suggestion of Platzman and Cartwright that M1 is generated through the spatial and temporal overlap of M1 in the tidal potential and one (or at least a small number of) diurnal ocean normal mode(s).

30 years of BPR data at Drake Passage are used to investigate the Mf, Mm and Mt long-period tides. Amplitudes of Mf and Mt, and all phase lags, vary over the nodal cycle as in the equilibrium tide. Mm amplitude is almost constant, and so inconsistent at 3σ from anticipation due to energetic non-tidal variability. Most findings agree with a modern ocean tide model. BPR records are superior to conventional tide gauge data in this work due to lower proportion of non-tidal variability.

This paper discusses an historical record of the ocean tide made by the astronomer Manuel Johnson (a future President of the Royal Astronomical Society) at St. Helena in 1826–27. It describes how the measurements were made using a tide gauge of an unusual design, which recorded the heights of the high and low tides well, although information on their times were not so accurate. Johnson’s work is not well known. One objective of the present research was to make his measurements more accessible.