Climatic conditions over the estuary and Firth of Forth, Scotland

Abstract

SynopsisThe pattern of climatic variation over estuaries and their environs is, to a considerable extent, controlled by aspect, slope and elevation in addition to orientation of the major relief features with respect to the movement of principal weather systems. Data from the few climatological stations within the immediate vicinity of the estuary and Firth of Forth demonstrate the essentially maritime nature of climate, and indicate also that there is a dominantly west–east gradient of change in most climatological variables. Below the high water mark the movement of water in tidal ebb and flow and river inflow modify atmosphere–surface interactions over relatively short spatial and temporal scales. Observations from a fixed instrument tower on Skinflats in the middle estuary and from Inchkeith Lighthouse indicate that tidal water movements exert varying degrees of control over sub-surface heat fluxes, air movement in the atmospheric boundary layer and the inland penetration of coastal weather systems such as the typical east coast haar.