User:Answermaster/Which ocean at the Panama canal is highest, Pacific or Atlantic's Caribbean Sea?

In the area of the Panama Canal in Central America, the Pacific Ocean is only about 20 centimeters (approximately 8 inches) higher than the Atlantic's Caribbean Sea. That fact alone is not the reason the engineer's designed gates and locks to raise and lower ships moving through the 50 mile long Panama Canal. A much bigger feature difference exists between the two bodies of water than just the 20cm height difference. It's the fact that each body of water has it's tides opposite each other. When the Pacific has it's high tide, the Atlantic has it's low tide and vise-versa. Imagine the massive water flow back and forth through the canal during tide changes if the canal were simply built with no regulation. The deigners built a large man-made lake (Lake Gatun) at the half-way point (approximately 25 miles) on the canal and at approximately 85 feet above the two oceans. Ships are raised up to the lake through a series of three locks and gates and lowered back down from the lake through another series of three locks and gates to reach the other ocean (or sea). Lake Gatun is a fresh water lake and so too is the whole canal. If one wonders which way the water flows in the Panama Canal, it's out toward both oceans from Lake Gatun...the half-way point on the canal.