Determination of wind stress on the surface of Lough Neagh by measurement of tilt

✍ Scribed by J. Darbyshire; Mollie Darbyshire

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1955
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 425 KB
• Volume: 81
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0035-9009
• DOI: 10.1002/qj.49708134904

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Continuous records of water level were taken at four points on the perimeter of Lough Neagh in N. Ireland during April 1949. The values of level at each point were measured over three‐hourly intervals to eliminate the effect of seiches and the differences in the values of level so obtained were found for all pairs of stations and are correlated with the wind speed and direction. The temperature difference between water and air is taken as a measure of the atmospheric stability.

It is shown that atmospheric stability has a very marked effect on the tilt of the water surface due to the wind, the slope of the surface for a given wind speed (measured at a height of 12 m over land near the Lough) being about twice as great in unstable conditions as in stable conditions. It is also shown that the stress coefficient C increases with the length of water under the action of the wind under all conditions of atmospheric stability.

Surface waves were also measured on the lake over this period but no conclusive evidence could be obtained to show that atmospheric stability has any effect on the generation of surface waves by the wind.