Tidal friction occurs when energy is dissipated inside a body distorted by tides. While ocean tides are the best-known example of tides, tides also occur in the solid Earth. The concept of tidal friction is in fact most easily illustrated by banishing the oceans, atmosphere and liquid core of the Earth and temporarily assuming the planet to be an elastic solid. Suppose, as in Figure T23a, that the Moon is the tideraising body in a circular orbit in the Earth's equatorial plane. The viewpoint of the figure is from space, looking down on the North Pole. As the Earth rotates an observer stationed at a fixed point A on the equator will see the Moon pass overhead from east to west. If the Earth is completely elastic, the tidal bulge also sweeps over the observer's position from east to west, with high tide occurring directly beneath the Moon. However, if anelasticity is present, as shown in Figure 23b, the internal friction delays the bulge, so that high tide as seen from A occurs after...
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Rubincam, D.P. (1997). Tidal friction . In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4520-4_407
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