Articles | Volume 24, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-121-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-121-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
18 Jan 2024
Research article |
| 18 Jan 2024
| 18 Jan 2024
Proposal for a new meteotsunami intensity index
Clare Lewis
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Geography & Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 3DH, UK
Tim Smyth
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 3DH, UK
Jess Neumann
Department of Geography & Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Hannah Cloke
Department of Geography & Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Related authors
Clare Lewis, Tim Smyth, David Williams, Jess Neumann, and Hannah Cloke
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2531–2546, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2531-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2531-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Meteotsunami are globally occurring water waves initiated by atmospheric disturbances. Previous research has suggested that in the UK, meteotsunami are a rare phenomenon and tend to occur in the summer months. This article presents a revised and updated catalogue of 98 meteotsunami that occurred between 1750 and 2022. Results also demonstrate a larger percentage of winter events and a geographical pattern highlighting the
hotspotregions that experience these events.
Joy Ommer, Milan Kalas, Jessica Neumann, Sophie Blackburn, and Hannah L. Cloke
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 2929–2938, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2929-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2929-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
What do we regret about our disaster preparedness? This paper explores the regrets of 438 citizens who were affected by flooding in Germany in 2021. It shows that regret can primarily be associated with inaction (instead of actions), which contrasts with psychological studies from fields other than disaster science. The findings of this study suggest that the no-regret approach could be a suitable framework for moving towards longer-term disaster preparedness to reduce future regrets.
Gwyneth Matthews, Hannah L. Cloke, Sarah L. Dance, and Christel Prudhomme
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-3989, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-3989, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Forecasts provide information crucial for managing floods and for water resource planning, but they often have errors. “Post-processing” reduces these errors but is usually only applied at river gauges, leaving areas without gauges uncorrected. We developed a new method that uses spatial information contained within the forecast to spread information about the errors from gauged locations to ungauged areas. Our results show that the method successfully makes river forecasts more accurate.
Alex T. Archibald, Bablu Sinha, Maria R. Russo, Emily Matthews, Freya A. Squires, N. Luke Abraham, Stephane J.-B. Bauguitte, Thomas J. Bannan, Thomas G. Bell, David Berry, Lucy J. Carpenter, Hugh Coe, Andrew Coward, Peter Edwards, Daniel Feltham, Dwayne Heard, Jim Hopkins, James Keeble, Elizabeth C. Kent, Brian A. King, Isobel R. Lawrence, James Lee, Claire R. Macintosh, Alex Megann, Bengamin I. Moat, Katie Read, Chris Reed, Malcolm J. Roberts, Reinhard Schiemann, David Schroeder, Timothy J. Smyth, Loren Temple, Navaneeth Thamban, Lisa Whalley, Simon Williams, Huihui Wu, and Mingxi Yang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 135–164, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-135-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-135-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we present an overview of the data generated as part of the North Atlantic Climate System Integrated Study (ACSIS) programme that are available through dedicated repositories at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA; www.ceda.ac.uk) and the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC; bodc.ac.uk). The datasets described here cover the North Atlantic Ocean, the atmosphere above (it including its composition), and Arctic sea ice.
Joy Ommer, Jessica Neumann, Milan Kalas, Sophie Blackburn, and Hannah L. Cloke
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2633–2646, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2633-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2633-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
What’s the worst that could happen? Recent floods are often claimed to be beyond our imagination. Imagination is the picturing of a situation in our mind and the emotions that we connect with this situation. But why is this important for disasters? This survey found that when we cannot imagine a devastating flood, we are not preparing in advance. Severe-weather forecasts and warnings need to advance in order to trigger our imagination of what might happen and enable us to start preparing.
Solomon H. Gebrechorkos, Julian Leyland, Simon J. Dadson, Sagy Cohen, Louise Slater, Michel Wortmann, Philip J. Ashworth, Georgina L. Bennett, Richard Boothroyd, Hannah Cloke, Pauline Delorme, Helen Griffith, Richard Hardy, Laurence Hawker, Stuart McLelland, Jeffrey Neal, Andrew Nicholas, Andrew J. Tatem, Ellie Vahidi, Yinxue Liu, Justin Sheffield, Daniel R. Parsons, and Stephen E. Darby
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3099–3118, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3099-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3099-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluated six high-resolution global precipitation datasets for hydrological modelling. MSWEP and ERA5 showed better performance, but spatial variability was high. The findings highlight the importance of careful dataset selection for river discharge modelling due to the lack of a universally superior dataset. Further improvements in global precipitation data products are needed.
Andrea J. McEvoy, Angus Atkinson, Ruth L. Airs, Rachel Brittain, Ian Brown, Elaine S. Fileman, Helen S. Findlay, Caroline L. McNeill, Clare Ostle, Tim J. Smyth, Paul J. Somerfield, Karen Tait, Glen A. Tarran, Simon Thomas, Claire E. Widdicombe, E. Malcolm S. Woodward, Amanda Beesley, David V. P. Conway, James Fishwick, Hannah Haines, Carolyn Harris, Roger Harris, Pierre Hélaouët, David Johns, Penelope K. Lindeque, Thomas Mesher, Abigail McQuatters-Gollop, Joana Nunes, Frances Perry, Ana M. Queiros, Andrew Rees, Saskia Rühl, David Sims, Ricardo Torres, and Stephen Widdicombe
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5701–5737, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5701-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5701-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Western Channel Observatory is an oceanographic time series and biodiversity reference site within 40 km of Plymouth (UK), sampled since 1903. Differing levels of reporting and formatting hamper the use of the valuable individual datasets. We provide the first summary database as monthly averages where comparisons can be made of the physical, chemical and biological data. We describe the database, illustrate its utility to examine seasonality and longer-term trends, and summarize previous work.
Clare Lewis, Tim Smyth, David Williams, Jess Neumann, and Hannah Cloke
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2531–2546, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2531-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2531-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Meteotsunami are globally occurring water waves initiated by atmospheric disturbances. Previous research has suggested that in the UK, meteotsunami are a rare phenomenon and tend to occur in the summer months. This article presents a revised and updated catalogue of 98 meteotsunami that occurred between 1750 and 2022. Results also demonstrate a larger percentage of winter events and a geographical pattern highlighting the
hotspotregions that experience these events.
Shaun Harrigan, Ervin Zsoter, Hannah Cloke, Peter Salamon, and Christel Prudhomme
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Real-time river discharge forecasts and reforecasts from the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) have been made publicly available, together with an evaluation of forecast skill at the global scale. Results show that GloFAS is skillful in over 93 % of catchments in the short (1–3 d) and medium range (5–15 d) and skillful in over 80 % of catchments in the extended lead time (16–30 d). Skill is summarised in a new layer on the GloFAS Web Map Viewer to aid decision-making.
André Valente, Shubha Sathyendranath, Vanda Brotas, Steve Groom, Michael Grant, Thomas Jackson, Andrei Chuprin, Malcolm Taberner, Ruth Airs, David Antoine, Robert Arnone, William M. Balch, Kathryn Barker, Ray Barlow, Simon Bélanger, Jean-François Berthon, Şükrü Beşiktepe, Yngve Borsheim, Astrid Bracher, Vittorio Brando, Robert J. W. Brewin, Elisabetta Canuti, Francisco P. Chavez, Andrés Cianca, Hervé Claustre, Lesley Clementson, Richard Crout, Afonso Ferreira, Scott Freeman, Robert Frouin, Carlos García-Soto, Stuart W. Gibb, Ralf Goericke, Richard Gould, Nathalie Guillocheau, Stanford B. Hooker, Chuamin Hu, Mati Kahru, Milton Kampel, Holger Klein, Susanne Kratzer, Raphael Kudela, Jesus Ledesma, Steven Lohrenz, Hubert Loisel, Antonio Mannino, Victor Martinez-Vicente, Patricia Matrai, David McKee, Brian G. Mitchell, Tiffany Moisan, Enrique Montes, Frank Muller-Karger, Aimee Neeley, Michael Novak, Leonie O'Dowd, Michael Ondrusek, Trevor Platt, Alex J. Poulton, Michel Repecaud, Rüdiger Röttgers, Thomas Schroeder, Timothy Smyth, Denise Smythe-Wright, Heidi M. Sosik, Crystal Thomas, Rob Thomas, Gavin Tilstone, Andreia Tracana, Michael Twardowski, Vincenzo Vellucci, Kenneth Voss, Jeremy Werdell, Marcel Wernand, Bozena Wojtasiewicz, Simon Wright, and Giuseppe Zibordi
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5737–5770, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5737-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5737-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A compiled set of in situ data is vital to evaluate the quality of ocean-colour satellite data records. Here we describe the global compilation of bio-optical in situ data (spanning from 1997 to 2021) used for the validation of the ocean-colour products from the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI). The compilation merges and harmonizes several in situ data sources into a simple format that could be used directly for the evaluation of satellite-derived ocean-colour data.
Benjamin R. Loveday, Timothy Smyth, Anıl Akpinar, Tom Hull, Mark E. Inall, Jan Kaiser, Bastien Y. Queste, Matt Tobermann, Charlotte A. J. Williams, and Matthew R. Palmer
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 3997–4016, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3997-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3997-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Using a new approach to combine autonomous underwater glider data and satellite Earth observations, we have generated a 19-month time series of North Sea net primary productivity – the rate at which phytoplankton absorbs carbon dioxide minus that lost through respiration. This time series, which spans 13 gliders, allows for new investigations into small-scale, high-frequency variability in the biogeochemical processes that underpin the carbon cycle and coastal marine ecosystems in shelf seas.
Gwyneth Matthews, Christopher Barnard, Hannah Cloke, Sarah L. Dance, Toni Jurlina, Cinzia Mazzetti, and Christel Prudhomme
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2939–2968, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2939-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2939-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The European Flood Awareness System creates flood forecasts for up to 15 d in the future for the whole of Europe which are made available to local authorities. These forecasts can be erroneous because the weather forecasts include errors or because the hydrological model used does not represent the flow in the rivers correctly. We found that, by using recent observations and a model trained with past observations and forecasts, the real-time forecast can be corrected, thus becoming more useful.
Chloe Brimicombe, Claudia Di Napoli, Rosalind Cornforth, Florian Pappenberger, Celia Petty, and Hannah L. Cloke
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2021-242, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2021-242, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Heatwaves are an increasing risk to African communities. This hazard can have a negative impact on peoples lives and in some cases results in their death. This study shows new information about heatwave characteristics through a list of heatwave events that have been reported for the African continent from 1980 until 2020. Case studies are useful helps to inform the development of early warning systems and forecasting, which is an urgent priority and needs significant improvement.
Jamie Towner, Andrea Ficchí, Hannah L. Cloke, Juan Bazo, Erin Coughlan de Perez, and Elisabeth M. Stephens
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3875–3895, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3875-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3875-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We examine whether several climate indices alter the magnitude, timing and duration of floods in the Amazon. We find significant changes in both flood magnitude and duration, particularly in the north-eastern Amazon for negative SST years in the central Pacific Ocean. This response is not repeated when the negative anomaly is positioned further east. These results have important implications for both social and physical sectors working towards the improvement of flood early warning systems.
Sazzad Hossain, Hannah L. Cloke, Andrea Ficchì, Andrew G. Turner, and Elisabeth M. Stephens
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-97, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-97, 2021
Manuscript not accepted for further review
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrometeorological drivers are investigated to study three different flood types: long duration, rapid rise and high water level of the Brahmaputra river basin in Bangladesh. Our results reveal that long duration floods have been driven by basin-wide rainfall whereas rapid rate of rise due to more localized rainfall. We find that recent record high water levels are not coincident with extreme river flows. Understanding these drivers is key for flood forecasting and early warning.
Cited articles
Candella, R. N. and de Araujo, C. E. S.: Meteotsunamis in Brazil: an overview of known occurrences from 1977 to 2020, Nat. Hazards, 106, 1563–1579, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04331-y, 2021.
Dawson, A. G., Musson, R. M. W., Foster, I. D. L., and Brunsden, D.: Abnormal historic sea-surface fluctuations, SW England, Mar. Geol., 170, 59–68, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0025-3227(00)00065-7, 2000.
Denamiel, C., Belušic, D., Zemunik, P., and Vilibić, I.: Climate projections of meteotsunami hazards, Front. Mar. Sci., 10, 1167863, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1167863, 2023.
Engeset, R., Pfuhl, G., Orten, C., Hendrikx, J., and Hetland, A.: Colours and maps for communicating natural hazards to users with and without colour vision deficiency, Int. J. Disast. Risk Reduct., 76, 103034, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103034, 2022.
Gornitz, V.: Global coastal hazards from future sea level rise, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl. Palaeoecol., 89, 379–398, https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(91)90173-O, 1991.
Gusiakov, V.: Meteotsunamis at global scale: problems of event identification, parameterization, and cataloguing, Nat. Hazards, 106, 1105–1123, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04230-2, 2021.
Haslett, S. K. and Bryant, E. A.: Meteorological Tsunamis in Southern Britain: An Historical Review, Geogr. Rev., 99, 146–163, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1931-0846.2009.tb00424.x, 2009.
Iida, K., Cox, D. C., and Pararas-Carayannis, G.: Preliminary Catalog of Tsunamis Occurring in the Pacific Ocean, Data Rep. 5, HIG-67-10, Hawaii Inst. of Geophys., Univ. of Hawaii, http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/Library/Tsunami Reports/Iida_et_al.pdf (last access: 15 January 2024), 1967.
Lekkas, E., Andreadakis, E., Kostaki, I., and Kapourani, E.: A Proposal for a New Integrated Tsunami Intensity Scale (ITIS-2012), Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 103, 1493–1502, https://doi.org/10.1785/0120120099, 2013.
Lewis, C., Smyth, T., Williams, D., Neumann, J., and Cloke, H.: Meteotsunami in the United Kingdom: the hidden hazard, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2531–2546, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2531-2023, 2023a.
Lewis, C., Smyth, T., Neumann, J., and Cloke, H.: UK meteotsunami events: Intensity index, Google maps [video supplement], https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1RiSeW-DIPSylIVOLv_8-T8Gy_e0To08&ll=58.047774381064756.1343982954656155&z=5 (last access: 15 January 2024), 2023b.
Long, D.: A catalogue of tsunamis reported in the UK, British Geological Association 1R/15/043, British Geological Association, https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502969/1/CR07077N.pdf (last access: 15 January 2024), 2015.
Lynett, P. J., Borrero, J., Son, S., Wilson, R., and Miller, K.: Assessment of the tsunami induced current hazard, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 2048–2055, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058680, 2014.
Masselink, G., Russell, P., Rennie, A., Brookes, S., and Spencer, T.: Impacts of climate change on coastal geomorphology and coastal erosion relevant to the coastal and marine environment around the UK, MCCIP Science Review, 158–189, https://doi.org/10.14465/2020.arc08.cgm, 2020.
Papadopoulos, G. and Imamura, F.: Proposal for a new tsunami intensity scale, in: ITS proceedings, session 5, number 5-1, 7–10 August 2001, Seattle, USA, 569–577, 2001.
Pattiaratchi, C. B. and Wijeratne, E. M. S.: Are meteotsunamis an underrated hazard?, Philos. T. Roy. Soci., 373, 281–303, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-014-1263-8, 2015.
Pellikka, H., Šepić, J., Lehtonen, I., and Vilibić, I.: Meteotsunamis in the northern Baltic Sea and their relation to synoptic patterns, Weather Clim. Ext., 38, 100527, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2022.100527, 2022.
Rabinovich, A. B.: Twenty-Seven Years of Progress in the Science of Meteorological Tsunamis Following the 1992 Daytona Beach Event, Pure Appl. Geophys., 177, 1193–1230, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-019-02349-3, 2020.
Rocha, C., Antunes, C., and Catita, C.: Coastal Vulnerability Assessment Due to Sea Level Rise: The Case Study of the Atlantic Coast of Mainland Portugal, Water, 12, 360, https://doi.org/10.3390/w12020360, 2020.
Šepić, J., Vilibić, I., and Mahović, N.: Northern Adriatic meteorological tsunamis: observations, link to the atmosphere, and predictability, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 117, C02002, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JC007608, 2012.
Sibley, A., Cox, D., Long, D., Tappin, D. R., and Horsburgh, K. J.: Meteorologically generated tsunami like waves in the North Sea on 1 July 2015 and 28 May 2008, Weather, 71, 68–74, https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.2696, 2016.
Thompson, J., Renzi, E., Sibley, A., and Tappin, D.: UK meteotsunamis: a revision and update on events and their frequency, Weather, 75, 281–287, https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.3741, 2020.
Vilibić, I. and Šepić, J.: Global mapping of non-seismic sea level oscillations at tsunami timescales, Sci. Rep., 7, 40818, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40818, 2017.
Vilibić, I., Rabinovich, A. B. and Anderson, E. J.: Special issue on the global perspective on meteotsunami science: editorial, Nat. Hazards, 106, 1087–1104, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-04679-9, 2021.
Vučetić, A., Vilibić, I., Tinti, S., and Maramai, A.: The Great Adriatic flood of 21 June 1978 revisited: An overview of the reports, Phys. Chem. Earth Pt. A/B/C, 34, 894–903, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2009.08.005, 2009.
Williams, D. A., Schultz, D. M., Horsburgh, K. J., and Hughes, C. W.: An 8-yr meteotsunami climatology across northwest Europe: 2010–2017, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 51, 1145–1160, https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0175.1, 2021.
Zemunik, P., Denamiel, C., Williams, J., and Vilibić, I.: High-frequency sea-level analysis: global correlations to synoptic atmospheric patterns, Weather Clim. Ext., 38, 100516, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2022.100516, 2022.
Short summary
Meteotsunami are the result of atmospheric disturbances and can impact coastlines causing injury, loss of life, and damage to assets. This paper introduces a novel intensity index to allow for the quantification of these events at the shoreline. This has the potential to assist in the field of natural hazard assessment. It was trialled in the UK but designed for global applicability and to become a widely accepted standard in coastal planning, meteotsunami forecasting, and early warning systems.
Meteotsunami are the result of atmospheric disturbances and can impact coastlines causing...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint