On the connection between cold fronts and gust bumps

Abstract

This article shows in a statistical and numerical way that there is a relationship between moving cold fronts over the southern part of the North Sea and “gust bumps” — defined as pronounced sudden rises in the sea level — on the Dutch coast. The speed of the front is a crucial parameter in the occurrence of a gust bump, there being every indication that it must be between 29 and 36 kts. The conclusion can be drawn that resonance is present due to the coincidence of frontal speed and the speed of long waves in shallow waters. When the gust bump of 13 December 1956 was represented in a numerical model of the North Sea, there was a reasonable to good measure of agreement between the computed and observed deviations of the water level.