Genesis 8:1

"And Elokim remembered" - This name (Elokim) is associated with the attribute of (strict) Judgement. (God' interaction with the world was) switched to the attribute of mercy through the teffilot of the righteous, as the wickedness of the wicked transform (God's interaction with the world from) the attribute of mercy to the attribute (strict) judgement as it is stated "and Hashem saw that the wickedness of man had become great...", "and Hashem said, I will erase..." and Hashem is the name associated with the attribute of mercy.

And the Lord in His Word remembered Noah, and all the animals and the cattle which were with him in the ark; and the Lord caused the wind of mercies to pass over the earth, and the waters were dried.

AND G-D REMEMBERED NOAH, AND EVERY LIVING THING, AND ALL THE CATTLE. The remembrance of Noah was because he was a perfectly righteous man, and He had made a covenant with him to save him. The word “Noah” here includes his children that were there with him. Scripture did not mention them specifically, though, for they were saved by his merit. However, the remembrance stated concerning beast and cattle was not on account of merit, for among living creatures there is no merit or guilt save in man alone. But the remembrance concerning them was Because He remembered His holy word which He had spoken, causing the world to come into existence, and the Will which was before Him at the creation of the world arose before Him and He desired the existence of the world with all the species that He created therein. Thus He now saw fit to bring them forth so that they should not perish in the ark. Scripture does not mention the fowl and the creeping things for the remembrance of the living thing is similar to their remembrance, and the companion thereof telleth concerning it.

ויזכר, there is no “remembering” as far as G’d is concerned, seeing that He could not have “forgotten” something. When the Torah, nonetheless, uses such terms as “He remembered” as applying to G’d, this is a figure of speech enabling the reader to employ his imagination and to realise that such wording introduces an activity by G’d now which had been latent for a while previously. We have numerous examples of such a term being used when a period of apparent inactivity by G’d had come to an end. Compare Leviticus 24,45 וזכרתי את בריתי, where the subject is that after a period of retribution, events occur which make it appear as if G’d had remembered His covenant only at that time. There are numerous other examples of this type. Here, it describes the fact that G’d concerned himself with the great discomfort experienced by all the people and creatures in the ark after such a long period of being cooped up.

ויעבר אלוקים רוח על הארץ וישכו המים, G’d made this wind blow over the surface of the globe in order to prevent the waters from rising any further. We find the word שככה used in a similar sense, i.e. suppressing turbulence of matter or mind in Esther 7,10, and in Samuel II 11,20.the words תעלה חמת describe the exact opposite. The King’s reaction to Haman’s hanging calmed him down, whereas anger, turbulent emotions coming to the surface are described as “rising”, תעלה. The word שככה is therefore aptly translated as something abating.

ויעבר אלוקים רוח על הארץ, “ G–d made wind pass over the earth;” this was the same wind of which the Torah in Genesis 1,2 had written that it was “hovering” over the surface of the waters. In other words, at this point the earth had basically reverted to what it had been before the creation of light. It was this “wind,” G–d made use of now to repair the damage earth had sustained by making the waters subside.