scholarly journals The North Sea surge of 31 October–1 November 2006 during Storm Britta

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 273-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony James Kettle
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Storm Surge ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Tide Gauge Records ◽  
The North ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Sea Storm

Abstract. Offshore energy infrastructure, including the petroleum and wind energy sectors, are susceptible to damage and interruption by extreme meteorological events. In northwest Europe and especially the North Sea, these extreme meteorological events are mostly associated with severe storms in the autumn and winter seasons. In the North Sea, storm surges have an impact on the offshore energy sector mainly from the flooding of port facilities and from strong ocean currents causing extra structural loading and bottom scouring. Storm Britta on 31 October–1 November 2006 was an important North Sea storm with a high surge along the coast of the Netherlands and Germany and a significant number of high wave reports. The paper presents an analysis of the national tide gauge records of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark to spectrally isolate and reconstruct time series components corresponding to the storm surge, semi-diurnal tide, and short period contribution. The semi-diurnal tides and storm surge during Storm Britta are tracked counter-clockwise around the North Sea from Scotland to northern Denmark. The storm surge was remarkable for its pronounced peak in the coastal area between the Netherlands and Germany with no precedent in the ∼100 year measurement record. The short period component of the tide gauge records show large oscillations during the height of the storm that may correspond with reports of unusually high waves at nearby coastal locations.

scholarly journals Storm Tilo over Europe in November 2007: storm surge and impacts on societal and energy infrastructure

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 187-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony James Kettle
Keyword(s):  
Water Level ◽  
Storm Surge ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Winter Storms ◽  
Energy Infrastructure ◽  
The North ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Pressure Centre ◽  
The North Sea

Abstract. Storm Tilo on 8–9 November 2007 ranks among the serious winter storms in northern Europe over the past 30 years. Its low pressure centre passed across the northern North Sea, and this led to a cold air outbreak in northwest Europe. Strong north winds across the North Sea contributed to a high storm surge that was serious for coastal regions in eastern England, the Netherlands and Germany. Storm winds and unusually high waves caused shipping accidents and damage to some offshore energy infrastructure. This report presents an outline of the met-ocean conditions and a short overview of storm impacts on societal and energy infrastructure. The progress of the storm surge around the North Sea is analysed using data from the national tide gauge networks. A spectral analysis of the water level data is used to isolate the long period storm surge and short period oscillations (i.e., <4.8 h) from the tidal signal. The calculated skew surge is compared with literature reports for this storm and also with another serious North Sea storm from 31 October–1 November 2006 (Storm Britta). The short period oscillations are compared with the platform and shipping incident reports for the 2 d storm period. The results support previous reports of unusual wave and water level dynamics during some severe regional winter storms.

Storm Xaver over Europe in December 2013 and its energy meteorological impacts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Kettle
Keyword(s):  
Storm Surge ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Energy Infrastructure ◽  
The North ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Uk

&lt;p&gt;Storm Xaver impacted the northern Europe on 5-6 December 2013. &amp;#160;It developed southeast of Greenland and passed north of Scotland and across southern Norway on a trajectory that led to a cold air outbreak across the North Sea and intense convection activity in northern Europe.&amp;#160; Strong sustained north winds led to a high storm surge that impacted all countries bordering the North Sea. &amp;#160;Storm Xaver was a century scale event with certain locations around the North Sea reporting their highest ever water levels since the start of modern records.&amp;#160; Media reports from the time of the storm chronicle the scale of the disruptions, including many cancelled flights, interrupted rail networks, closed bridges and roads, coastal building collapses, and power blackouts across northern Europe. &amp;#160;Much of this was due to the strong winds, but coastal storm surge flooding was important in the UK, and it led to interrupted port operations around the North Sea.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The storm was important for energy infrastructure and particularly for wind energy infrastructure.&amp;#160; In the northern North Sea, petroleum platforms were evacuated and operations closed ahead of the storm as a precautionary measure.&amp;#160; A number of onshore wind turbines were badly damaged by high winds and lightning strikes in the UK and Germany.&amp;#160; Over the North Sea, wind speeds exceeded the turbine shutdown threshold of 25 m/s for an extended period of time, with economic impacts from the loss of power generation.&amp;#160;&amp;#160; In the German Bight, the FINO1 offshore wind energy research platform was damaged at the 15 m level by large waves. &amp;#160;This was the third report of storm damage to this platform after Storm Britta in 2006 and Storm Tilo in 2007. &amp;#160;Researchers have highlighted the need to reassess&amp;#160; the design criteria for offshore wind turbines based on these kinds of extreme meteorological events. &amp;#160;For the offshore wind industry, an important element of energy meteorology is to characterize both the evolving wind and wave fields during severe storms as both elements contribute to turbine loads and potential damage.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The present conference contribution presents a literature review of the major events during Storm Xaver and impacts on energy infrastructure.&amp;#160; Tide gauge records are reanalyzed to trace the progress of the storm surge wave around the North Sea.&amp;#160; A spectral analysis is used to separate the long period storm surge component, diurnal/semidiurnal tide, and short period components in the original water level record. &amp;#160;The short period component of the tide gauge record is important as it may be linked with infragravity waves that have been implicated in certain cases of offshore infrastructure damage in addition to coastal erosion. &amp;#160;Discussion is made of offshore wave records during the storm.&amp;#160; Storm Xaver is compared with two damaging offshore storms in 2006 and 2007.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Large-scale forcing of the European Slope Current and associated inflows to the North Sea

Ocean Science ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Marsh ◽  
Ivan D. Haigh ◽  
Stuart A. Cunningham ◽  
Mark E. Inall ◽  
Marie Porter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Density Gradients ◽  
Current Transport ◽  
Tide Gauge Records ◽  
The North ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Northern North Sea

Abstract. The European Slope Current provides a shelf-edge conduit for Atlantic Water, a substantial fraction of which is destined for the northern North Sea, with implications for regional hydrography and ecosystems. Drifters drogued at 50 m in the European Slope Current at the Hebridean shelf break follow a wide range of pathways, indicating highly variable Atlantic inflow to the North Sea. Slope Current pathways, timescales and transports over 1988–2007 are further quantified in an eddy-resolving ocean model hindcast. Particle trajectories calculated with model currents indicate that Slope Current water is largely recruited from the eastern subpolar North Atlantic. Observations of absolute dynamic topography and climatological density support theoretical expectations that Slope Current transport is to first order associated with meridional density gradients in the eastern subpolar gyre, which support a geostrophic inflow towards the slope. In the model hindcast, Slope Current transport variability is dominated by abrupt 25–50 % reductions of these density gradients over 1996–1998. Concurrent changes in wind forcing, expressed in terms of density gradients, act in the same sense to reduce Slope Current transport. This indicates that coordinated regional changes of buoyancy and wind forcing acted together to reduce Slope Current transport during the 1990s. Particle trajectories further show that 10–40 % of Slope Current water is destined for the northern North Sea within 6 months of passing to the west of Scotland, with a general decline in this percentage over 1988–2007. Salinities in the Slope Current correspondingly decreased, evidenced in ocean analysis data. Further to the north, in the Atlantic Water conveyed by the Slope Current through the Faroe–Shetland Channel (FSC), salinity is observed to increase over this period while declining in the hindcast. The observed trend may have broadly compensated for a decline in the Atlantic inflow, limiting salinity changes in the northern North Sea during this period. Proxies for both Slope Current transport and Atlantic inflow to the North Sea are sought in sea level height differences across the FSC and between Shetland and the Scottish mainland (Wick). Variability of Slope Current transport on a wide range of timescales, from seasonal to multi-decadal, is implicit in sea level differences between Lerwick (Shetland) and Tórshavn (Faroes), in both tide gauge records from 1957 and a longer model hindcast spanning 1958–2012. Wick–Lerwick sea level differences in tide gauge records from 1965 indicate considerable decadal variability in the Fair Isle Current transport that dominates Atlantic inflow to the northwest North Sea, while sea level differences in the hindcast are dominated by strong seasonal variability. Uncertainties in the Wick tide gauge record limit confidence in this proxy.

scholarly journals THE DUTCH PROGRAM OF INVESTIGATIONS ON STORM SURGES IN THE NORTH SEA

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
J. B. Schijf
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Wind Effects ◽  
Shallow Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Western Germany ◽  
North Western

The North Sea is a shallow sea and therefore it is very sensitive to wind effects. As a result the water levels along the coasts are, in addition to the tidal oscillations subject to a considerable wind setup and exceptionally severe gales throughout history have been accompanied by inundations of the low-lying regions bordering the North Sea, in particular its southern part. No stretch of coast has suffered more than that belonging to the Netherlands and the adjacent parts of Belgium and North Western Germany. Several factors combine to bestow on us this doubtful privilege.

scholarly journals Assessment of tidal range changes in the North Sea from 1958 to 2014

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leon Jänicke ◽  
Andra Ebener ◽  
Sönke Dangendorf ◽  
Arne Arns ◽  
Michael Schindelegger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
German Bight ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Tidal Range ◽  
Tide Gauges ◽  
Tide Gauge Records ◽  
Large Spatial Scale ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea

&lt;p&gt;Tide gauges throughout the North Sea basin show significant changes in the local tidal regime since the mid-20th century, especially in the German Bight area. These changes were analyzed within the DFG-funded project TIDEDYN (Analyzing long term changes in the tidal dynamics of the North Sea, project number 290112166) and the final results were recently published in J&amp;#228;nicke et al. (2020, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016456).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this paper, we document an exceptional large-spatial scale case of changes in tidal range in the North Sea, featuring pronounced trends between -2.3 mm/yr at tide gauges in the UK and up to 7 mm/yr in the German Bight between 1958 and 2014. These changes are spatially heterogeneous and driven by a superposition of local and large-scale processes within the basin. We use principal component analysis to separate large-scale signals appearing coherently over multiple stations from rather localized changes. We identify two leading principal components (PCs) that explain about 69% of tidal range changes in the entire North Sea including the divergent trend pattern along UK and German coastlines that reflects movement of the region&amp;#8217;s semidiurnal amphidromic areas. By applying numerical and statistical analyses, we can assign a baroclinic (PC1) and a barotropic large-scale signal (PC2), explaining a large part of the overall variance. A comparison between PC2 and tide gauge records along the European Atlantic coast, Iceland and Canada shows significant correlations on time scales of less than 2 years, which points to an external and basin-wide forcing mechanism. By contrast, PC1 dominates in the southern North Sea and originates, at least in part, from stratification changes in nearby shallow waters. In particular, from an analysis of observed density profiles, we suggest that an increased strength and duration of the summer pycnocline has stabilized the water column against turbulent dissipation and allowed for higher tidal elevations at the coast.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We would like to present these research results and the content of the paper (cf. J&amp;#228;nicke et al., 2020) at vEGU21, hoping to encourage subsequent questions and further discussions.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals ADJUSTMENT AND VERIFICATION OF THE RANDDELTA II MODEL

1978 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
A. Langerak ◽  
M.A.M. De Ras ◽  
J.J. Leendertse
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Sand Dunes ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Tidal Marshes ◽  
Tidal Range ◽  
Offshore Area ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea

In the mid-1950s the Netherlands government embarked on a massive construction program, called the Delta Plan. Its purpose was to enhance protection from floods caused by the North Sea in the estuaries of the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt. According to the plan, all connections to the sea were to be closed by dams, except the New Waterway to Rotterdam and the Western Scheldt. In 1974 all dams and dikes were complete except the dam closing off the Eastern Scheldt from the sea. In view of growing opposition to a complete closure, plans were revised in 1976, and instead of the dam, a storm surge barrier will be constructed. This barrier will reduce the tidal range in the Eastern Scheldt and will be closed during storm surges. In support of engineering and environmental studies related to the construction and operation of this barrier, a large numerical model has been developed, which covers the Eastern and Western Scheldt and the adjacent offshore area. The section of the North Sea which is included in the model is about 120 km long and 30 km wide, running from Blankenberghe in Belgium to Scheveningen in the Netherlands (Fig. 1). The bathymetry of the model area varies widely. In general it slopes from the shore to about 25 m at 30 km from the coast. In certain sections of the offshore area, the bottom is relatively flat; in other areas it has offshore bars and the bottom contains underwater sand dunes with a height of several meters. In the estuaries the tidal flow has scoured deep channels. The tidal flats near the North Sea are generally sandy, but the ecologically important tidal marshes located more inland contain much finer material. The flow and the water levels in the region which is modeled are generally tide-induced. However, the influence of meteorological effects is always present and sometimes dominates water movements and water levels (storm surges). The influence of the fresh water discharges is of much less importance; generally their effects can only be noticed in the immediate vicinity of the discharge. The tides in the offshore area of the model are part of the complicated tide system in the North Sea. The semidiurnal tidal wave propagates along the coast in a northeasterly direction. During this propagation the amplitude reduces from about 1.90 m near Blankenberghe to about .85 m near Scheveningen.

scholarly journals North Sea Storminess from a Novel Storm Surge Record since AD 1843*

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 3582-3595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sönke Dangendorf ◽  
Sylvin Müller-Navarra ◽  
Jürgen Jensen ◽  
Frederik Schenk ◽  
Thomas Wahl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Storm Surge ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Circulation Index ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Late Nineteenth

Abstract The detection of potential long-term changes in historical storm statistics and storm surges plays a vitally important role for protecting coastal communities. In the absence of long homogeneous wind records, the authors present a novel, independent, and homogeneous storm surge record based on water level observations in the North Sea since 1843. Storm surges are characterized by considerable interannual-to-decadal variability linked to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. Time periods of increased storm surge levels prevailed in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries without any evidence for significant long-term trends. This contradicts with recent findings based on reanalysis data, which suggest increasing storminess in the region since the late nineteenth century. The authors compare the wind and pressure fields from the Twentieth-Century Reanalysis (20CRv2) with the storm surge record by applying state-of-the-art empirical wind surge formulas. The comparison reveals that the reanalysis is a valuable tool that leads to good results over the past 100 yr; previously the statistical relationship fails, leaving significantly lower values in the upper percentiles of the predicted surge time series. These low values lead to significant upward trends over the entire investigation period, which are in turn supported by neither the storm surge record nor an independent circulation index based on homogeneous pressure readings. The authors therefore suggest that these differences are related to higher uncertainties in the earlier years of the 20CRv2 over the North Sea region.

The north sea storm surge of 31 January and 1 February 1953

1954 ◽  
Vol 246 (915) ◽  
pp. 371-400 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Storm Surge ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Frictional Coefficient ◽  
Future Research ◽  
English Channel ◽  
Tractive Force ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Sea Storm

Using observed hourly heights of tide at thirty-one stations in the North Sea and two in the English Channel, the storm surge of 31 January and 1 February 1953 has been investigated in the light of the meteorological conditions prevailing. The major cause of the disturbance is shown to be the strong northerly winds in and to the north of the North Sea, modified at each station by local wind and barometric effects. An increase of 2 ft. in the mean level of the North Sea during the disturbance has been deduced, and the response of the sea as a whole to the disturbing winds has been examined. Geostrophic effects have been remarked in both the growth and decay of the disturbance. Estimates have been made of the air/sea frictional coefficient on two separate occasions during the period considered, assuming the tractive force of the wind to vary as the square of its velocity. These estimates are in agreement with accepted values. The partial transmission of this large surge through the Straits of Dover has been shown as an im portant factor, influencing the levels immediately to the north of the Straits. Prediction of the surge at Southend by a previously established formula has given only fair results, but the errors have been explained in terms of the facts previously presented and the approximations upon which the formula is based. Suggestions for future research into the improvement of surge prediction formulae have been made.

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