Project background
Defra is leading a strategic initiative to
monitor the wave conditions along long stretches of the coastline
thus forming a National wave monitoring network. These will be
supplemented by local initiatives to monitor the local inshore wave
regime.
Cefas and the Met Office have been commissioned by Defra to
develop a wave buoy monitoring network (Cefas) and similarly a
coastal HF wave radar network (Met Office). This follows a report
from HR Wallingford (TR122) which suggested that the main benefits
of a wave network would be the provision of the following data:
- Historic wave data for use in coastal defence studies and
validation of numerical wave models
- (after about five years) historic wave data for use in climate
change studies
- near real-time wave data for use by the Environment Agency in
coastal flood forecasting and warning
- near real-time wave data for use by the UKMO as input to
operational wave forecasting models
- free internet access to both near real-time and historic wave
data for use in the port, leisure construction and access
operations ,and by the public
Two types of data will be recorded - a limited number of high
quality point measurements and HF radar giving spatial coverage at
a lower accuracy. This data would provide near
"real-times" and would be freely available to stakeholders,
consultants, academics and the public. After several years this
data would be available to provide robust estimates of wave climate
at key locations around the UK coastline. Two classes of data would
be available - near real-time with limited Quality Assurance (QA)
available within a few hours or less and QA post-processed data
after a few weeks.
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