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
Citation identifier
British Geological Survey / BGS_SEA_90
Point of contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

British Geological Survey (BGS)

Paul Henni

offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk

Custodian

Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)

enquiries@decc.gsi.gov.uk

Originator
Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned
Resource format
Name Version

Documents
Keywords

SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

  • Hydrography

SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages
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
Intellectual property rights
Distance
5  m
Language
English
Topic category
  • Environment
  • Oceans
Title

SeaVoX salt and fresh water body gazetteer
Date (Revision)
2006-01-01
Code
Irish Sea
N
S
E
W
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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
    Protocol Linkage Name
    http://www.bgs.ac.uk/data/sea/home.html

    Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal
    Hierarchy level
    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).

    Metadata

    File identifier
    aba64100-c14e-4de3-e044-0003ba6f30bd XML
    Metadata language
    English
    Hierarchy level
    Dataset
    Date stamp
    2011-08-30
    Metadata standard name

    MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard
    Metadata standard version

    Version 2.3.5
    Metadata author
    Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

    British Geological Survey (BGS)

    Mary Mowat

    offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk

    		Point of contact
     
     

    Overviews

    Spatial extent

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    Keywords



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