SWOT-UK: The UK contribution to validating SWOT in the Bristol Channel and River Severn, with application to coastal and river management.
Lead Research Organisation:
Bangor University
Department Name: Sch of Ocean Sciences
Abstract
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will provide for the first time from space two-dimensional high-resolution maps of surface water levels globally over ocean and inland waters. If SWOT meets its performance targets, it will represent a major milestone in our abiity to observe, study and understand the nature and evolution of the Earth's marine and land surface water systems, globally. The UK Space Agency invested in SWOT jointly with the US NASA, French CNES and Canadian Space Agency to enable the implementation and launch of this mission. The SWOT-UK project proposes a comprehensive programme of campaigns and multidisciplinary research centred on the Bristol Channel and River Severn region as the UK contribution to the international SWOT Science Team validation efforts. In accordance with the requirements of the NERC/UKSA SWOT CalVal call, SWOT-UK takes an open and inclusive approach, putting special emphasis on disseminating value-added SWOT validation datasets and engaging with the wider UK science and stakeholder communities to raise awareness of the SWOT capabilities.
Organisations
Publications
Harrison L
(2021)
Sensitivity of Estuaries to Compound Flooding
in Estuaries and Coasts
Khojasteh D
(2022)
Sea level rise will change estuarine tidal energy: A review
in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Neill S
(2024)
Wave resource characterization and co-location with offshore wind in the Irish Sea
in Renewable Energy
Neill, S.P.
(2024)
Wave Power and Co-location in the Irish Sea
Robins P
(2021)
Compound Flooding: Dependence at Sub-daily Scales Between Extreme Storm Surge and Fluvial Flow
in Frontiers in Built Environment
Title | Wave and water level data in the Bristol Channel |
Description | Around 6 weeks of wave and sea level data collected for two locations in the Bristol Channel, UK. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Data is still being processed but was concurrent with the SWOT satellite. |
Description | Royal Society partnetship |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Royal Society Partnership grant with local primary school - Ysgol Sant Elfod. Demonstrating how information on waves and currents is collected and sea and how this information is used to inform research. Interactive sessions showing the children instrumentation and running Q and A sessions during a school visit to the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | STEM education and stake-holder engagement development |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | development of https://projects.noc.ac.uk/swot-uk/ future development will include live data feeds to sea-level observations throughout the Bristol Channel |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
URL | https://projects.noc.ac.uk/swot-uk/ |
Description | SWOT Estuaries and Coast Working Group membership |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | SWOT Estuaries and Coast Working Group to globally co-ordinate the CAL/VAL mission. Our UK SWOT team managed to successfully change the NASA coastal mask, to now better resolve UK waters - including new areas (Liverpool Bay) that the SWOT mission will resolve fully. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
Description | Tide boards at Clevedon Pier |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Development of information boards on tides installed on Clevedon Pier. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://clevedonpier.co.uk/tides-and-the-bristol-channel/ |