Scottish Shelf Model - Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters

The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters (PFOW) is an important region for marine renewable energy, and features prominently in Scotland's National Marine Plan. For example, this region significantly contributes to the total Scottish tidal stream resource. This model was developed by Marine Scotland Science and is part of the Scottish Shelf Model suite of hydrodynamics models. The model is an implementation of the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) and has a domain covering the northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland and Moray Firth, extending from approximately 0° - 5° W and 57° - 61° N. The model grid is unstructured with the highest horizontal resolution in the Pentland Firth where the typical node spacing is 100 – 150 m. Away from Orkney the model has a comparably low horizontal resolution. The vertical water column is resolved using 10 terrain following sigma layers, each representing 10% of the water column.

More information, including model model runs, is available at the Marine Scotland Science Scottish Shelf Model site: http://marine.gov.scot/information/pentland-firth-and-orkney-waters-model