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2005 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA6 Technical Report - Hydrography of the Irish Sea

This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA6) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). This report describes the physical oceanography of the Irish Sea from St George's Channel in the south to the North Channel and the Clyde Sea in the north. The report covers the topography and depth of the sea floor, the tides, the impact of storms, stratification and its consequences and the mean circulation, all with a view to mean and extreme conditions.

The predominant dynamical process is the semi-diurnal tides, with areas of both high and low energy embraced. Superimposed on this is the full range of water column structure areas that are well mixed throughout the year; areas that stratify thermally in summer; areas of freshwater influence from river discharges, leading both to nearshore density gradients and stratification; frontal regions between the well-mixed and stratified regions.

The movement of the water and the amount of mixing prescribe physical effects, such as forces on structures and the movement and dispersion of contaminants, but also significantly influence biogeochemical processes including sediment erosion / deposition and movement, particularly of suspended sediment, benthic exchanges and primary productivity (via stratification, nutrient exchanges and light levels).

Simple

Date (Publication)
2005-01-01
Identifier
British Geological Survey / BGS_SEA_90
Custodian
  British Geological Survey (BGS) - Paul Henni
Murchison House, West Mains Road , Edinburgh , EH9 3LA , UK
+44 (0)131 667 1000
Originator
  Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
Admiralty Way , London , SW1A 2HD , UK
+44 0300 060 4000
+44 (0) 1823 284077
Maintenance and update frequency
notPlanned Not planned
Name
Documents
Keywords
  • NDGO0001
SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary
  • Horizontal velocity of the water column (currents)
  • Salinity of the water column
  • Sea level
  • Temperature of the water column
  • Wave direction
  • Wave height and period statistics
  • Wind speed and direction
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • Hydrography
SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages
  • crust
  • sediment
Use limitation
The SEAs data were produced as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme; Crown Copyright, all rights reserved. The DECC SEA must be acknowledged in any maps or publications that make use of the data. All the data files are freely available to the public. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. BGS (NERC) has been contracted by DECC to publish SEA datasets on its behalf. All intellectual property rights (including , without limitation, copyrights, database rights and all other rights which subsist or may at any time in the future subsist in the Dataset(s)) in the Dataset(s) ('Intellectual Property Rights') are owned by DECC (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). BGS has been authorised by DECC to use SEA datasets for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit basis'. BGS has been authorised by DECC to pass on SEA datasets to third parties so that they can use them for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit' basis.
Access constraints
intellectualPropertyRights Intellectual property rights
Distance
5  http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/ISO_19139_Schemas/resources/uom/gmxUom.xml#m
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Topic category
  • Environment
  • Oceans
Date (Revision)
2006-01-01
Unique resource identifier
Irish Sea
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Begin date
2005-01-01
End date
2005-01-01
Supplemental Information
http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/index.php
Reference system identifier
OGP / urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326
Distribution format
OnLine resource
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS.

Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Statement

This report was prepared by Dr M. J. Howarth of the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. The two sources for many of the figures in this report are a three-dimensional

hydrodynamic numerical model of the continental shelf seas around the United Kingdom with a horizontal resolution of 1.8 km, and long term measurements from a site less than a mile west of the Mersey Bar Light, at 53 32 N 3 21.8 W. The water depth at the site is 18.5 m below chart datum, with a tidal range at equinoctial spring tides of about 10 m. The site is part of a project started in August 2002 and expected to last for 5 - 10 years. Measurements include current profiles, waves and surface and bed salinities and temperatures (for more details see http://cobs.pol.ac.uk ).

File identifier
aba64100-c14e-4de3-e044-0003ba6f30bd XML
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Date stamp
2011-08-30
Metadata standard name
MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard
Metadata standard version
Version 2.3.5
Point of contact
  British Geological Survey (BGS) - Mary Mowat
+44 (0)131 667 1000
+44 (0)131 668 4140
 
 

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