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The tidal prism is the change in the volume of water covering an area, such as a wetland, between a low tide and the subsequent high tide, or the volume of water in an estuary or inlet between mean high tide and mean low tide, or the volume of water leaving an estuary at ebb tide.
The Delta has two unequal high tides and two unequal low tides each day, with the tidal prism averaging about 1.3 million acre-feet, or nearly a quarter of the volume of the Delta.