Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-28T15:51:24.523Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Climatic conditions over the estuary and Firth of Forth, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

S. J. Harrison
S. J. Harrison
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Science, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, U.K.
Get access

Synopsis

The 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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 93 , Issue 3-4: The Natural Environment of the Estuary and Firth of Forth , 1987 , pp. 245 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, L. L., 1964. Tidal effects in the dissipation of haar. Meteorological Magazine 93, 379–380.Google Scholar
Birse, E. L., & Dry, F. T., 1970. Assessment of climatic conditions in Scotland 2. Based on accumulated temperature and potential water deficit. Aberdeen: Macaulay Institute for Soil Research.Google Scholar
Buchan, A., 1902. Fogs on the coasts of Scotland. Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society 3rd Series 12, 3–12.Google Scholar
Dixon, F. E., 1939. Fog on the mainland and coasts of Scotland. Meteorological Office Professional Notes 88 (Vol. VI, No. 8).Google Scholar
Harrison, S. J., 1981. Rainfall in the Stirling Area. Forth Naturalist and Historian 5, 23–24.Google Scholar
Harrison, S. J., 1984. Temperature observations in Chichester Harbour, southern England. Weather 39, 166–173.Google Scholar
Harrison, S. J., & Phizacklea, A. P., 1985a. Tide and the climatology of fog occurrence in the Forth Estuary. Scottish Geographical Magazine 101, 28–36.Google Scholar
Harrison, S. J., & Phizacklea, A. P., 1985b. Seasonal changes in heat flux and heat storage in the intertidal mudflats of the Forth Estuary. Scotland. Journal of Climatology 5, 473–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, S. J., & Phizacklea, A. J., 1987. Vertical temperature gradients in muddy intertidal sediments in the Forth Estuary, Scotland. Limnology and Oceanography 32, 954–963.Google Scholar
Jones, S. R., 1981. Ten years of measurement of coastal sea temperatures. Weather 36, 48–55.Google Scholar
Lamb, H. H., 1943. Haars or North Sea fogs on the coast of Great Britain. Air Ministry Meteorological Office Report MO 504.Google Scholar
MacGinite, G. E., 1935. Ecological aspects of a Californian marine estuary. American Midland Naturalist 16, 629–765.Google Scholar
McDowell, D. M., & O'Connor, B. A., 1977. Hydraulic behaviour of estuaries. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meteorological Office 1963. Averages of temperature for Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1931–1960. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Meterorological office 1976. Averages of temperature for the United Kingdom 1941–1970. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Meteorological office 1977. Average annual rainfall 1941–1970. Northern Britain (Map). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Munk, W. H., 1947. A critical wind speed for air–sea boundary processes. Journal of Marine Research 6, 203–218.Google Scholar
Perkins, E. J., 1964. Sea-shore and inshore sea-water temperatures at Whitstable, Kent. UKAEA Production Group Report 456. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Smith, K., 1979. Temperature characteristics of British rivers and the effect of thermal pollution. In Man's impact on the hydrological cycle, ed. Hollis, G. E., pp. 229–242. Norwich: GeoBooks.Google Scholar
Vugts, H. F., & Zimmerman, J. T. F., 1982. Heat balance investigations of tidal flats. First International Conference on Meteorology and Air–Sea Interactions of the Coastal Zone, pp. 277–280. The Hague: American Meteorological Society/Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute.Google Scholar