Q) Has anyone carried out a study to discover what possible impact rising sea levels in the next 100 years will have on the tidal flow around the British Isles. Would the tidal ebb and flow be more aggressive than it is a present e.g. if the sea level were to rise by 1m, would sea level at low tide and high tide both be 1m higher than they are now or will the moon have a bigger impact on more water and speed things up a bit?
A) - from Prof Richard Burrows of Liverpool Uni:
Water levels fluctuate over the same range but about the new water level in the coastal waters.
There are likely to be further changes in the estuaries where the tide becomes asymmetric; Our computational studies show only a very small change in tidal magnitudes around the coast from a ~0.8m increase in sea levels