Tide gauges fitted to measure sea levels and activity

| 04/01/2022 | 29 Comments

(CNS): Four tide gauge stations have been installed across all three Cayman Islands to collect data on tidal activity and sea levels. The gauges have been installed at Gun Bay Public Dock in East End, the Royal Watler Cruise Terminal in George Town, the Creek Dock in Cayman Brac and at Bloody Bay Dock in Little Cayman. They have been funded by the UK government and will help to improve the accuracy of tidal predictions and measure sea level rise.

Premier Wayne Panton, who is the minister for sustainability and climate resiliency, explained the importance of the equipment in shaping future policy in the face of rising and changing seas.

The global sea level record from tide gauges is an important indicator of the evolution and impact of climate change,” he said. “The data collected locally from these gauges will provide significant information to the Cayman Islands Government that will inform our risk mitigation measures as we build a resilient infrastructure for our islands.”

The public is urged not to touch or tamper with the gauges, which have two sensors. One is a “float” in a tube that goes up and down with the water level, while the other is a radar gauge measuring height of the water from the sensor. The gauge will be surveyed into the local land datum to enable understanding of its precise location (latitude, longitude and height).

The collected data from the tide gauges will be used to measure sea level change over time to understand climate change impact as well as the impact on tides during extreme weather events such as high/low barometric pressure and storm surges as well as the influence of tides on coastal ecosystems.

The information will be used to improve vessel navigation for transit and safe port entry, port operations the improvement of links between vertical reference frames and reduction of seabed mapping data to define datum.

“Investments such as these are very valuable and important for improving our way of life,” said Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, the minister for lands. “I strongly urge members of our community not to tamper with these tide gauges and risk invalidating potential data which will support the prosperity of our Islands. The data provided by the tide gauges will not only improve navigational safety but feed into a great understanding of tides within the wider Caribbean region.”

The Department of Lands and Survey has also advised their intent to provide the data into the International Oceanographic Commissions Global Sea Level Observing System, which supports a wide range of data use and feeds into the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG/CARIBE-EWS).


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Category: Climate Change, Marine Environment, Science & Nature

Comments (29)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Wayne Panton: “The global sea level record from tide gauges is an important indicator of the evolution and impact of climate change. The data collected locally from these gauges will provide significant information to the Cayman Islands Government that will inform our risk mitigation measures as we build a resilient infrastructure for our islands.”
    More Clown Car rhetoric. If the predicted rise in sea level due to climate change does occur. Unless we can quickly build science fiction type underwater cities, the only “resilient infrastructure” will be located atop Cayman Brac’s Bluff.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Back in my day we used a Sharpie.

  3. Anonymous says:

    How about water pollution gauges while you’re at it?

    • Anonymous says:

      Dart has an air quality/met station set up on the north side of the new Blackbeards store formerly Cox lumber on Eastern Ave. However the data is not public

      • Anonymous says:

        There are a number of them. There cement companies, CUC and the Water Authority wouldn’t like it if the data was to be made public.

  4. Anonymous says:

    The Cayman Islands with CI Coast Guard and UK Navy support, should formally annex the Misteriosa Bank, into our collective territory and set up a tsunami/submarine avalanche security warning buoy station there to provide data to the western Antilles interests.

    All Cayman-flagged vessels should be provided financial incentive to drag mapping tools for our greater submarine territory as part of the international high-resolution mapping project.

    We should also be harnessing the free MW of energy bleeding off from super-heated black-smokers less than 10 miles south of us, using funding from UK Global Innovation Fund. If not for political greed, we would enjoy limitless free power like the citizens of Iceland. We could then attract and lead the world in large greentech projects such as ammonia and hydrogen export.

    • Anonymous says:

      All good but it’s Star Wars science fiction stuff to people who by chance just managed to get their heads out of the Bronze Age.

      • Anonymous says:

        So true 😥

      • Anonymous says:

        05 @ 1:41 & 6:53pm – FYI the concepts of harnessing energy from the black smokers (hmmm ..incredibly deep) and also dynamic tidal activity at the drop-off (less hmmm) have been presented before. Simply, not cost effective. Musk or Bezos territory and even then, not viable for Cayman’s market.

        Bronze age reasoning, I guess?

  5. Anonymous says:

    It’s so bizarre that sea-level rise is not a huge concern for Caymanians. I guess ignorance is bliss—until you’re a refugee.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Same as it ever was.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Instead of installing this piece on nonsense how about fixing the weather radar so we can see the storms headed our way? I know, parts on order soon come….

  8. Anonymous says:

    Really? Good luck finding that gauge in the highland of East End after the next hurricane. I guess they’re not expecting any over the next 25 years or so! Possible but I wouldn’t bet on it.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Similar devices were installed after hurricane Ivan by L&S- but the Chief Surveyor and his surveying staff couldn’t be bothered to remove them when we had inclement weather and they were ruined 🤷‍♂️😳

  10. Anonymous says:

    These are the days of our lives.

  11. Say it like it is. says:

    Tide gauges are a minor “missed issue” compared to the ignorance displayed by our politicians/legislators in totally ignoring the Master Ground Transportation Plan prepared in the early seventies by the U.K. planners at the time of the Cadastral Survey. This set out key access routes/road corridors across Grand Cayman where the land was to be preserved for future major roads.If this had been followed the massive traffic mess we are in now would have been avoided.

    • Anonymous says:

      A one car per family policy like Bermuda where it worked was needed decades ago. However our politicians didn’t want the hard line approach to affect their political aspirations.

      • Anonymous says:

        I would be all for this, but the infrastructure is design around cars. Public transport is practically non existent due to uselessness. Walking is out the question for most people since walking involves being on the road with drivers who don’t feel like driving carefully, on top of no shading from the sun or heat with trees since they are always ripped out and cement is just poured on top.

        that policy would have the come after a big change in the current infrastructure which would allow it work otherwise everyone would just complain and we will be right back to where we are now.

  12. Guido Marsupio says:

    Plenty of sea level data from other places in the Caribbean, and around the world, so no data lost. Nice to have it here, and kudos to the UK for footing the bill, but insignificant from the perspective of documenting sea level rise due to climate change.

  13. Anonymous says:

    I wish they could have installed this back in the 70’s so we could finally prove the seas aren’t and haven’t been significantly rising/changing.

  14. Anonymous says:

    laughable stuff…the fact that no caymanian politician has ever mentioned or addressed sea level change seriously over the last 30-40 years tells you everything you need to know about the level of competence of local mla’s

  15. Anonymous says:

    Could have and should have been done 25 years ago or earlier. Why did it take so long for powers in charge to pull their heads out of the sand and implement this? That’s a rhetorical question. Decades of data missing from the record due to ignorance and apathy. And it has taken decades for Cayman to embrace science like the rest of the developed world. Now the rising seas are becoming a serious threat someone had to pull out a finger.

    It’s about damn time!

  16. Anonymous says:

    More money pissed away. Use your damn eyes. Fix the damn dump Wayne.

    • Pete says:

      anon 339 you do realized they did not pay for those.

      • Anonymous says:

        Will they also pay for the maintenance, and correlation of data? The eventual report that will result in no change? Do you really think that the tidal data is so different here than other nearby islands that have had these kind of devices in place for decades?

        No, it’s important for us to have our own data, our own version of the IPCC, etc.

        I wish we would concentrate on conservation and cleaning up our profound mess. This is your cue, dump guy.

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