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MHW (mean high water) A tidal datum abbreviated MHW. It is the average of all the high water heights observed over the National Tidal Datum Epoch. For stations with shorter series, simultaneous observational comparisons are made with a control tide station in order to derive the equivalent of a 19-year datum. This is an especially important reference in US charting because it is also the vertical height datum used on charts. The sounding datum is typically mean lower low water and the height datum is usually mean high water.

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