text: if the moon's gravity causes ocean tides, what does it do to the air, and how would we know? the land moves a little at the moon's gravitational pull.  the oceans move a lot, with tides lifting or beaching boats, or water lines surging high or retreating sometimes miles away from shore in places.  but what of the air?  does the air get thinner and the atmosphere higher during a lunar tide, or does the upwelling water squish the space, causing a higher atmospheric pressure when the tide is high?  how would we know?  if the sweep of water swells as the tides follow the moon around the planet, does that then displace air and cause winds or storms?  how would we know?  the mechanics of water tides is well known and recognized for centuries, but no one talks of the moon's effect on the air. the lunar effects on tides are actually quite predominant on the effects of weather and air so to speak it is actually barometric pressure that is affected by not directly my lunar pull. the lunar pull on water affects the variable barometric pressure. the tides also play into this as currents affect wind patterns high and low pressure spots therefor affecting barometric pressure. (the high ad lows are actually descriptives of barometric pressure areas so it is kinda redundant.) you should look at noaa web sites. you might be able to fine very good layman's answer.