1. technology
36 Marine Scientist No.48 August 2014
R
ecent severe flooding
around the UK coast
is a stark reminder of
the risks presented by storm
surges – caused by a combina-
tion of high tides, winds and
low pressure. The impacts on
people, property and infra-
structure, as recent events in
the southwest of the UK illus-
trate, can be significant.
Storm surges, and their
potential impacts, need to be
understood by coastal man-
agers, affected communities
and all those with assets on
the coastline. International
flood and coastal engineer-
ing specialist HR Wallingford
has developed SMARTtide, a
state of the art tool that can
now be used to predict storm
surges in UK waters.
“Parts of the UK have
recently experienced some
of the highest storm surges
since 1953,” says Graham
Siggers, hydrodynamics and
metocean group manager at
HR Wallingford. “The chal-
lenge is to be able to provide
Predicting Storm Surges
A
SL Environmental Sci-
ences Inc. has been
awarded a US$0.5 mil-
lion contract by the University
of Georgia to build a reciprocal
transmission acoustic scintilla-
tion instrument to measure the
flow dynamics of a hydrother-
mal vent plume for a research
project led by Dr Daniela Di
Iorio of the Department of Ma-
rine Sciences. The instrument
will be installed at the Ocean
Networks Canada NEPTUNE
cabled observatory at the En-
deavour hydrothermal vent
site, approximately 300km off
the west coast of Vancouver
Island, in 2200m water depth.
The deployment is scheduled
for 2016, with logistical sup-
port from Ocean Networks
Canada.
The instrument will
employ advanced signal
Measuring Hydrothermal Vents
processing techniques and
2-way acoustic transmissions
to measure the rise velocity
of the plume and its turbu-
lent properties in near-real
time. Long-term measure-
ments of these properties, in
conjunction with 3-dimen-
sional plume models, will ad-
vance understanding of the
interaction between hydro-
thermal vent fluids and the
surrounding ocean and how
that supports the unique eco-
system found at the vents. 
For further information:
Colleen McQuade’ ASL Environmen-
tal Sciences’ Victoria, BC, Canada
www.aslenv.com
asl@aslenv.com
accurate simulations of such
events, either for forecast-
ing, development planning,
or to inform risk assessments.
When it comes to simulat-
ing the local effects of storm
surges, we have now further
developed SMARTtide, a
state of the art predictive tool
originally set up for tidal re-
source assessment, to model
storm surges in UK waters.”
Graham adds: “This new
development of SMARTtide
allows us to take meteorologi-
cal predictions and look at the
effects of storm surges in very
fine detail (200m resolution)
along the coastline or into es-
tuaries. This means the model
can simulate storm surges at a
very localised level informing
risk assessments for coastal
planning or insurance.”
Developed by HR Walling-
ford, SMARTtide was original-
ly commissioned and funded
by the Energy Technologies
Institute (ETI) to identify the
most efficient sites for tidal en-
ergy converters, tidal arrays or
tidal barrage schemes around
the UK and French coastlines.
The model continues to be
used for this purpose and can
now also be used for storm
surge simulation. 
More information on SMARTtide is
available at http://www.hrwallingford.
com/projects/smarttide
HR Wallingford’s model predictions of an example major storm surge
event (1 in 20 year return) around the UK coastline (an animated
version of this is available from HR Wallingford on request).
technology.indd 36 25/07/2014 10:05