The stormy season is upon us and we are seeing some interesting environmental conditions across the UK. We have been watching the changes during storm “Ali” using our Port-Log system which gives us unique access to environmental sensors all over the UK (and across the world). This week we have been specifically looking at UK tidal surges.
The above image, which has been extracted from Port-Log demonstrates tide surges, tide predictions and real-time tide (“observations”).
Under ‘normal’ conditions the observations (blue) should match the predictions (black). The last low tide at Glasgow was a metre higher than was predicted, this has been caused by wind which has driven sea water up the Clyde River. Essentially what is happening is that the tide is trying to run out, but the wind is forcing the water back!
A metre is quite a substantial difference for the UK, but pales into insignificance when you compare this to surges of 3-4m which can be generated, for example, by a hurricane (we have it easy in this country!).
As the stormy season progresses we will be on ‘surge watch’ and will be sharing more interesting conditions as we track them.
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For more information on our monitoring products please click here or visit our demo Port-Log site.