The North-West Shelf experiences some of the largest tides in the world ocean, with a tidal range of over 8 m. An internal tide is produced as the surface tide impinges on the continental shelf. It travels on the thermocline from the shelf break towards the coast.

The images are approximately 200 km x 200 km in size; north is up. The coast is towards the lower right outside the image range. The figure on the right shows the orientation of the image and the topography of the region; depth contours are given in metres.

The waves are observable in the RADARSAT images as bands of alternating rough and smooth surface, the effect of current convergence on the wind waves and accumulation of floating planctonic matter. The images show bands of semi-circular shape, produced by different propagation speed of the internal waves. Some bands are nearly straight indicating uniform propagation speed in these regions. The effect of the shallow Rankin Bank on the propagation of the waves is clearly visible.

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