Resources

Scanned images of historical (earliest data from 1870) tide gauge analogue charts and data ledgers from around the UK

Data set information

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General  
Data holding centreBritish Oceanographic Data Centre
CountryUnited Kingdom  United Kingdom
Time period1870-1988, with some gaps, site dependent
OngoingNo
Geographical area

Eight tide gauge sites around the UK. Sheerness and Belfast and six sites around Liverpool (Eastham, Gladstone, Hilbre, Princes Pier, Tranmere and Waterloo).

Observations 
Parameters

Sea level; Air pressure; Precipitation and evaporation; Wind strength and direction

Instruments

Sea level recorders

Description 
Summary

The dataset comprises scanned images of historical analogue charts and data ledgers from eight tide gauge sites around the UK. The sites include: Sheerness, Belfast, and several sites around Liverpool managed by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company namely, Eastham, Gladstone, Hilbre, Princes Pier, Tranmere and Waterloo. The Sheerness ledger data represents some of the earliest records of sea level data in the UK and cover the periods - January 1870 to December 1881, July 1882 to October 1894 and December 1929 to April 1941. Data availability for the other sites are: Belfast analogue charts - 27 November 1901 to 24 May 1902; Princes Pier ledgers: - 1941 to 1950, 1951 to 1960 and 1961 to 1970; Eastham, Gladstone, Hilbre, Princes Pier, Tranmere and Waterloo ledgers: - 1982 to 1988. The data recorded in some of the ledgers also describe meteorological measurements for example, air pressure, air temperature, wind speed and direction, and precipitation and evaporation. Funding to rescue these historical sea level data came from the Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) and the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC).These images have now been added to the National Oceanographic Database and are freely available to registered users (subject to licence agreement).

OriginatorsBritish Oceanographic Data Centre
Data web sitehttps://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/hosted_data_systems/sea_level/historical_uk_tide_gauge_data/
Availability 
OrganisationBritish Oceanographic Data Centre
AvailabilityLicence
ContactPolly Hadžiabdić (Head of the BODC Requests Team)
Address

British Oceanographic Data Centre
Joseph Proudman Building 6 Brownlow Street
Liverpool
Merseyside
L3 5DA
United Kingdom

Telephone+44 (0)782 512 0946
Emailenquiries@bodc.ac.uk
Administration 
Collating centreBritish Oceanographic Data Centre
Local identifier1048UKSEALEVEL_SCANS
Global identifier4759
Last revised2018-02-09