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Home > 9. Operational/Synoptic > 9.35 Tide Forecasts

9.35 Obtaining Tide Forecasts for 7000 Global Port Locations: UKMO EasyTide

 

  • Exercise Title:  Obtaining Tide Forecasts for Specific Global Locations: UKMO EasyTide

  • Abstract:  In this exercise you learn how to get 7-day tide forecasts for thousands of ports, world wide.  The URLs that request these products from the UK server can be saved and used as links in a local guide to selected locations.

  • Preliminary Reading (in OceanTeacher, unless otherwise indicated):

    • N/A

  • Required Software:

  • Other Resources: 

  • Author:  Murray Brown

  • Version:  1-14-2013

1.  Run Saga and use FILE > LOAD > SHAPE to make a map with the WORLD BORDERS data and the Capital Cities data, listed above.

Zoom into the Liberia area to see where these seven capital cities are located.  We're going to find how to get tide predictions for these locations, and add links to them on this map.

2.  Open the UKMO EasyTide site and take a few minutes to read about it.

Then click on REGISTER (lower right corner) and go through the registration process.

3.  Now that you are registered and logged in, you'll see this notice.  The PREDICT control is available on most screens, and it is the way to get back to the beginning of the process.

Click on PREDICT.

4.  You'll see 4 ways to find the individual locations.

Click the MAP tab and you see these size-tiered maps.  It is not easy to use this method, but you are welcome to try it.

[HINT: Hover the cursor over the yellow dots to see their names.]

5.  Click the AREAS tab to find this hierarchical method.  The AREAs are odd, but you can find locations after some work.

6.  Click the SEARCH tab to find a method to simply look for ports by name.  If you have a name and the port is large, then this is the best way.
7.  Ignore the FAVOURITES tab for now.
8.  Now you need to do two things:
  • Check by ADD THE PORT
  • Click on BISSAU (or the name of the port in question)

And no matter which tab you choose, above, always use ADD THE PORT to save this choice in your list of FAVOURITES.

9.  Choose any time from 1 to 7 days.  Then click PREDICT.
10.  A new page appears with a graph and data table, but we won't use it.  Find the VIEW PRINTER FRIENDLY PREDICTION control, and click it.

11.  This smaller page, with nice black and white graphic appears.  This is the product you need for your colleagues.

12.  The following information is also provided, and is enlarged here for you to read.  It should be transmitted with the above graphic whenever you share it with someone.  You must make it clear that this has been generated by the UKMO EasyTide, under Crown copyright, and not by you personally.  The author of this exercise hereby makes the same declaration.

Daylight Saving Warning:  EasyTide predictions are based on the standard time of the country concerned. For the UK this is GMT (which is in force from 02:00 am on the last Sunday in October until 01:00am on the last Sunday in March). The specific dates of the Sundays in October and March for the next three years can be found on the directgov website at http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm.
The “Daylight saving” drop-down box in the top right-hand corner of the screen can be used to convert the predicted times to “Daylight Saving Time”. In the UK this is known as British Summer Time (BST) and is one hour in advance of GMT. Therefore BST applies to dates and times outside those mentioned above.

Please note: The data provided by the EasyTide service has not been designed to meet the specific requirements of any particular type of user. It is therefore the user's responsibility to ensure that the data is suitable for their intended purpose. EasyTide is not designed for use by vessels operating under SOLAS regulations. For such vessels, the UKHO has developed specifically designed products such as the Admiralty Tide Tables or Admiralty TotalTide. The UKHO does not accept responsibility for any amendments or changes to the data in the EasyTide service made during its transmission or in the process of displaying or printing or conversion into alternative formats on the user's equipment, or for any modifications or unauthorised changes made by licensees or other parties.

13.  Before you close the window for the PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION, you must look at the top line of your browser and SAVE the complete URL, as you see here:

http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/Easytide/easytide/ShowPrediction.aspx?PortID=3561&PredictionLength=7&DaylightSavingOffset=0&PrinterFriendly=True&HeightUnits=0&GraphSize=7

This is one of the hyperlinks for the Ports Tide Map you will make below.  Save it in a text document with any good ASCII editor.

14.  Now we have BISSAU in our FAVOURITES, and a URL for a 7-day prediction there.  We'll go on now to get the same results for the other 6 capitals in the area.

You can close the PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION and go back to the main EasyTide page.

15.  Find this notice and CLICK HERE to begin the prediction process again (where you were in Panel 3, above). 

Or click on any control that simply says PREDICT, if you don't see this exact same control.

16.  Now you're back in the location selection process.
17.  Go through all 6 other locations:
  • Find each one in EasyTides list of 7000 sites
  • Add each one to your FAVOURITES list
  • Get the PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION of the 7-day forecast for each site
  • Save the URLs for all PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSIONS in the same text file with BISSAU, for a total of 7
18.  If you look at your FAVOURITES now, you should see these 7 sites.
19.  Here is the same map you saw in Panel 1.  You can use any good HTML editor to
  • Place the map graphic on an HTML webpage
  • Add a "hot spot" at each of the 7 coastal capitals, linked to their tide charts using the 7 URLs you saved above.

Click on any one of the coastal capitals to see how the EasyTide forecast map appears.  These will always be updated automatically to cover the latest 7-day period.  This map would make a terrifically effective new object on your website, but make sure to label the graphic appropriately, as the author has done here.

 

Regional Ports Tide Forecasts

7-day tide forecasts from the United Kingdom Meteorological Office Admiralty EasyTide online utility.  They are provided here for scientific assessments and not for navigation or engineering.

20.  "Any good HTML editor" - This is entirely up to you.  This author uses Frontpage 2003, which is a commercial product.  You might want to go through Wikipedia's List of Free HTML Editors, cited above.