Sandy S

The Bessy Bell wind farm is 50 miles west of Belfast and 1000ft QFE.

It was started with ten turbines in 1995, together rated at 5MW. It was then extended with a further six turbines to a total of 14MW. An upgrade to 32MW is planned.

Alan Kendall, I don't know who calls them shipbreakers, because historically, those that experienced them, tended not to survive.

The other shipbreaker, of more modern nomenclature, is a series of long waves, not necessarily that high. If a ship 100 metres long, motors into a long swell, whereby the crests are about 100metres apart, the bow and stern will be supported, whilst nothing supports the middle. This creates flexing, that ultkmately through metal fatigue, will lead to cracks.

Prior to Brunel, ships of timber could flex, and were of insufficient length to cause a problem.

Nobody, not even with a computer model, can predict the damage that may be caused by one hour in such conditions, as it may not manifest itself for ten years, or the next time a similar sea state is encountered. A small sailing yacht under similar conditions will just undulate a bit. Obviously wave length to waterline length is critical, and ships keep getting longer.

One limiting factor on the size of many ships, including the US Navy, was the maximum length of locks on the Panama Canal, known as Panamax. Plans are in hand to enlarge those locks, as many more ships are now bigger than Panamax, and no longer use the Canal.

golfCharlie. Indeed, I believe the biggest waves are known as "ship breakers" (not a pun).

Alan Kendall 11:30 for millennia, seafarers have told tales of massive waves. As science applied itself to such matters, these were dismissed as being tales.

The great growth in numbers of oil drilling rigs, mounted on the sea bed in the 1970s and 80s allowed accurate measurement at fixed locations, and it turned out the seafarers were (mostly) right. The North Sea is apparently particularly prone to rogue waves, but is it any more particularly prone than anywhere else?

How was any data collected prior to satellites, in areas with no oil rigs? Apparently satellite data can not be relied on by climate scientists if the data doesn't match predictions. Something to do with the bucket technology, being lowered over the side, and the length of the piece of string, or something.

SandyS 12:32 Exciting? Er yes!

Educational. Was it forecast? Yes, but due to language issues and some 'trust issues' surrounding the source of the information, we didn't trust it! Our mistake, the weather forecasters were right. My trust in meteorology rose as a result.

Anyone who relies or depends on accurate weather forecasts, whether shipping, flying, mountain rescue, fishing, farming gardening etc welcomes and acknowledges the improvements in forecasting.

Coming from the South Downs, 40 minutes from the Solent, I am well aware of how local topography can cause very local and variable weather.

I have experienced the destructive power of katabatic winds in the Eastern Med, and massive thunder and lightning storms mainly at the other end. The Med can become very tempestuous, very quickly, with changes in air pressure causing currents and changes in sea level. It is nothing new, and has always happened

Oh Sandy,

The turbines will achieve optimum results for its investors in reaping in as much of that subsidy loving as they can.

Now, if you are talking about energy production...well then most likely no so good at doing that?

Mailman

Entropic Man
According to Weather Spark

The wind in Belfast

Over the course of the year typical wind speeds vary from 1 m/s to 9 m/s (light air to fresh breeze), rarely exceeding 14 m/s (strong breeze).

The highest average wind speed of 6 m/s (moderate breeze) occurs around January 12, at which time the average daily maximum wind speed is 9 m/s (fresh breeze).

The lowest average wind speed of 4 m/s (gentle breeze) occurs around August 5, at which time the average daily maximum wind speed is 6 m/s (moderate breeze).

I'm not sure how this applies to 'your' turbines situation but it doesn't look like turbines around Belfast are going to achieve optimum that often.

golf charlie
That sounds "exciting".

Did anyone see that a record low temperature had been recorded at the Vostok Antarctic station on 14 June 2016 a temperature of -80.3'C was recorded. This is thanks to IceAgeNow but the link is to a Russian website, and nothing at the BBC when I looked.

In the interests of science, I delved into bin and retrieved newspaper.
Paper published in Ocean and Coastal Management (to which I have no access) but the publication date is given as September 2016. Lead author C.Zheng.

Data used from weather stations and satellites, over period 1989-2011.
Suggests gales more frequent and stronger.

Effect on seabirds a separate study "just published by the Royal Society".

Study linked to work by Australian scientists using 20 years of satellite data showing steady increase in wave height and incidence of very large waves in the open ocean (no details given).