The UK National Tide Gauge Network
The UK national network of sea level gauges was established after violent storms in the North Sea in 1953 resulted in serious flooding.
The network provides high quality sea level information to provide warning of possible flooding of coastal locations around the British Isles.
These data are also required for research into coastal processes, storm surge behaviour and sea level rise. There are several types of tide gauge that have been developed over time with advancing technology. The interactive diagram explains how some of them work.
Tide gauge technology has advanced considerably over the last few decades.
Measurement devices
Tide gauge systems
Full-tide bubbler
Half-tide bubbler
Direct pressure transducer
Tide gauges
Ott pneumatic gauge
Munro float gauge
Wellhead float gauge
Lea float gauge
Instruments
DATARING logger
Datum probe