Sunrise
Updated October 15, 2026.
Sunrise is the moment the upper edge of the sun appears on a level horizon. The calculation allows for the sun's width and for the way the atmosphere bends the light, about 0.833 degrees. That is earlier than the moment the center of the sun would cross the horizon, and it is the standard used for published sunrise times.
It is later than dawn. Dawn is the sky getting light with the sun still 6 degrees down. Sunrise is the sun itself. On the station page the morning order is first light, nautical twilight, dawn, blue hour, golden hour, then sunrise. Sunrise usually falls inside the morning golden hour, not at the start of it.
On a tide chart
The next high and the next low are the tide. Sunrise is there so you can see whether that turn is a dawn trip or a middle-of-the-day trip. The fishing note treats a high or a low within two hours of sunrise as a day worth marking. Two hours is a practical window for getting on the water while the light is still low and the current is still associated with the turn. It is not a biological law.
The time is local time at the station. A phone set to another zone will not match it until you convert. Hills, buildings, and a high beach can hide the sun after the published minute. The page assumes a flat horizon at the coordinate.