Updated 30 Aug 2014

Dorset Stour - Recording stations Data

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Dorset Stour - Durweston Mill hatches.

See:
Recording stations on Stour
daily Stour levels
Latest levels
Canford sluice
Durweston Mill hatches

Measuring the delay between rain falling and level crest arriving at different places along a river. Approx. calibration between these places and Bear Mead. Transit speeds calculated from distance along the river. Dorset Stour used over 47 miles. Data from Environment Agency Level recording stations, BBC weather radar records, and Google Earth tools.
Recording Stations along Dorset Stour:
Gillingham,Hammoon, Blandford, Wimborne.
Gillingham-Hammoon=21.13 miles
Hammoon-Blandford=10.76 miles
Blandford-Bear Mead=11.92 miles
Bear Mead-Wimborne=3.23 miles
Total=47.04 miles along river.

Catchment area of the Dorset Stour, with Recording Stations and distance between stations along river in miles.

Peak caused by heavy rain (c34mms), and its decreasing delay as it propagates down a widening river, which had low water level due to near-drought conditions.
31hrs delay 21miles 0.7mph
12hrs delay 11miles 0.9mph
19hrs delay 15miles 0.8mph

Durweston Mill

effect of hatches opening

River Stour

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7.6 miles

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Durweston Mill

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3.2 miles

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15 miles 22 hrs

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River Stour

Stour levels and delays

Levels taken from public websites for: Gillingham | Hammoon | Blandford | Wimborne and the author's own
measurements for Bear Mead.
Distance along river in miles using Google Earth:
Source(0)-Gillingham(7.22)-Hammoon(28.32)-Blandford(39.12)-Bearmead(51.02)-Wimborne(54.25)-Sea(71.95)
Delay varies greatly with height of water in river. Delay (approx) in hours (for low crest):
Rain(0)-Gillingham(4)-Hammoon(22.5)-Blandford(27.5)-Bearmead(33)-Wimborne(34.5)-Sea

Gillingham Hammoon    Blandford  Bear Mead Wimborne
72m        40.900m    31.0m      c19 m     14.603m AOD
ID=3296    ID=3306    ID=3305      none    ID=3302
ST805266   ST820147   ST88330595 SY986993  SZ024992
All times in GMT

Effect of opening Durweston hatches

Hatches at Durweston Mill.
Each arch contains 3 hatches: total 9 hatches

River rises 11 cms in 4 hrs at 2200 hrs on 17 Jul 2011, as 3 of 9 Durweston Mill hatches are opened then closed because of weed blockage. Peak of 0.51 is followed by a trough of 0.25, 9 hours later. Peak reached Wimborne (15 miles) after 22 hours delay (0.69 mph), propagation time is very slow because the river is unusually low.

Progress of Durweston Slosh downstream

1. Slosh first recorded at Blandford.
Hatches opened 1800 hrs then closed 0800 hrs next day, river drops then recovers.


2. Slosh next recorded at Bear Mead as 144 at 1600 (on max) and 135 at 1300 (on min).

3. Slosh last recorded at Wimborne.
Average delay 22 hours over 15 miles from Blandford to Wimborne (0.68 mph).

See:
Recording stations on Stour
daily Stour levels
Latest levels
Canford sluice
Durweston Mill hatches

This disturbance was confirmed by phoning Durweston Mill on 22 Aug 2014. The cause was raising the hatches of the Mill about 2100 hrs on 21aug2014, preparatory to clearing out jammed flotsam next morning.

DURWESTON Mill

(3.2 miles 3 hours = 1.1 mph)

(12 miles 12 hours = 1.0 mph)

BEAR MEAD           0800

(3 miles 3 hours = 1.0 mph)

(7 miles 7 hours = 1.0 mph)

(3 miles 2 hours = 1.5 mph)

(TOTAL: 28.2 miles 27 hours = 1.04 mph)

Compiled, formatted, hyperlinked, encoded, and copyright © 2011, John Palmer, All Rights Reserved.