Scottish West Coast

Precipitation and evaporation; Vertical velocity of the water column (currents); Horizontal velocity of the water column (currents); Sea level; Bathymetry and Elevation

Current meters; single-beam echosounders

This catalogue aims to summarise the morphology of the principal sea lochs in north west Scotland as an aid to their classification and comparison. The catalogue is concerned mainly with those physical features that influence the physical oceanography of the lochs and, ultimately and more subtly, their marine chemistry and biology. The catalogue is restricted to sea lochs which are more than 2 km long, whose length is more than twice their width, and which usually have one entrance - in some cases interrupted by islands. The outer parts of the Clyde Sea, Loch Snizort and Loch Linnhe have not been included because they are too wide in relation to their length. In rather less than half of the lochs there are no significant sills or basins. All those sills and basins included are shown on the sketch maps for each loch. The information relates to: charts; areas at high water, low water, at the 2m, 5m, 10m contours; volumes; watershed; rainfall and freshwater runoff; kinetic energy supplies; mean depth at low water; ratio of supplies of fresh and tidal water; ratio of freshwater to width; sills - maximum depth, length, width, cross sectional area and areas upstream; current speed at sills.

Edwards, A. and Sharples, F (1986) Scottish Sea Lochs: a Catalogue., Scottish Marine Biological Association/Nature Conservancy Council 250pp.

Scottish Association for Marine Science

Argyll
Oban
PA37 1QA
United Kingdom