New north Cornwall tidal gauge to help sea predictions
- Published
Data from the gauge is transmitted every 10 minutes
A new £50,000 tidal gauge has been installed at a harbour in north Cornwall to collect sea pattern data.
The gauge, on the seaward face of the outer harbour breakwater at Port Isaac, has been installed by the South West Coastal Monitoring Programme.
The data is being collected to improve tidal predictions, programme managers said.
Once a year's worth of data is collected, it will also be sent to the UK Hydrographic Office.
The equipment forms part of a network of gauges and wave buoys around the south west of England, from Chesil Beach in Dorset, around Land's End to Weston-Super-Mare in north Somerset.
There is also one on the Isles of Scilly.
Data from the Port Isaac gauge is being sent every 10 minutes to the Channel Coastal Observatory, based at the University of Southampton, using a high-speed internet link.
It is being sent ashore by radio to a computer display located in the nearby town aquarium.
The Coastal Monitoring Programme is funded by the Environment Agency.