An empirical investigation of interaction between storm surge and astronomical tide on the east coast of Great Britain

Abstract

A measure of non-linear interaction between storm surge and astronomical tide is defined and this is used to make a comparison of interaction at various ports on the east coast of Great Britain using several years of storm surge data. In so far as the variation of interaction along the coast is concerned, the degree of interaction is highly correlated with the range of the tide for ports under the influence of the same amphidromic system; the correlation with surge height is less significant. When the ports are considered individually, however, the main characteristics of surgetide interaction can be determined by an empirical method based on the amplitude and variability of the hypothetical storm surge obtained using a linearised prediction theory. The method is demonstrated for the particular port of Southend, in the Thames Estuary.