A tide gauge is an instrument that continuously measures the height of the sea surface at a fixed coastal or harbor location relative to a reference datum, historically using a float connected to a recording pen inside a stilling well that damped out wave action, and today more commonly using pressure sensors, acoustic sensors or radar mounted above the water surface. Systematic tide gauge measurement developed through the nineteenth century alongside the growing needs of maritime navigation, harbor engineering and coastal trade, with early automated recording tide gauges installed at major ports from the 1830s onward providing the first continuous instrumental tidal records. Long-running tide gauge stations, some now maintaining records spanning over a century, have become a critical scientific resource well beyond their original navigational purpose, providing the primary long-term instrumental record used by oceanographers and climate scientists to measure and monitor global and regional sea level change.
Facts
Invented YearApproximate: simple tide staffs were used earlier, but self-recording gauges with mechanical floats and stilling wells, the direct ancestor of the modern tide gauge, were introduced around 1830. Measuresthe instantaneous sea level, including periodic tides and long-term sea level rise, relative to a fixed vertical datum 1 Operating PrincipleA sensor continuously records the height of the water surface relative to a fixed height reference close to the geoid, historically using a float in a stilling well and today also using pressure, acoustic or radar sensors. 1 Classification
Instrument ClassMeasurement or Metrology Instrument 1 Connections
Used In
The tide gauge records sea-surface height over time, the primary instrument behind tidal analysis and long-run sea-level records in oceanography.
Sources
1. Tide Gauge (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWikipedia, Tide gauge article, History section, first sentence
Sea-level measurements were made using simple measuring poles or "tide staffs" until around 1830, when self-recording gauges with mechanical floats and stilling wells were introduced.
Wikipedia, Tide gauge article, lead section, first sentence
A tide gauge is a device for measuring the change in instantaneous sea level, including periodic tides and long-term sea level rise, relative to a vertical datum.
Wikipedia, Tide gauge article, Operation section, first sentence
Sensors continuously record the height of the water level with respect to a height reference surface close to the geoid.
Lede, instrument class
A tide gauge is an instrument that continuously measures the height of the sea surface at a fixed coastal or harbor location relative to a reference datum, historically using a float connected to a recording pen inside a stilling well that damped out wave action, and today more commonly using pressure sensors, acoustic sensors or radar mounted above the water surface.
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