Current surges in the St. Georges Channel

Abstract

During February 1973, a period of unsettled weather, a rig of three recording current meters was moored in the centre of the St. Georges Channel. Their records showed that four current surges occurred, each during a period of strong winds. These current surges were predominantly baratropic, were correlated to the calculated flow through the North Channel and only weakly correlated to changes in mean sea level. They each had two phases, the first in which water flowed southward out of the Irish Sea when the residual current was partly related to the wind, and the second in which water flowed northward, back into the Irish Sea. They also clearly showed that the Irish Sea was dominated by outside events during the surges.