Hydrographic Institute supports surfing in the Perfect Chapter 2016

The Hydrographic Institute (HI) has been supporting the surfer community with innovative products to predict the environmental conditions for surfing practice in Portugal. This public service becomes unique in its kind by associating high-accuracy bathymetry and high-resolution models with interdisciplinary knowledge of the ocean and a strong operational capacity to monitor and predict maritime agitation. Support for surfing covers the margin of mainland Portugal and the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores.

Within the framework of the partnership with the Perfect Chapter 2016, the IH provides two distinct sets of data, updated daily, to Praia do Norte in Nazaré: i) observation data and ii) prediction model results.

Observations of sea conditions (significant height, peak period and peak direction) and atmospheric conditions (wind intensity and direction, atmospheric pressure and air temperature) available at http://monican.hydrographic. They are purchased by two multiparameter buoys located off Nazaré, a seashore founded at 80 metres and a sea-going ocean found at 2000 meters deep. This buoy system aims to monitor, in real time, meteo-oceanographic parameters in the area of influence of the Nazaré cannon. The observed data and tide forecasts for the port of Nazareth are also provided.

The forecasts available are the result of several mathematical models that integrate the IH operational forecasting system. In relation to the state of the sea, predictions are provided at 6 days of the marine agitation parameters at two distinct spatial scales: off-shore conditions resulting from a mid-resolution model ( The higher resolution model uses a digital terrain model that results from high resolution hydrographic surveys performed by the IH. For the prediction of atmospheric conditions, the results of simulations performed by the European Forecast Centre (ECMWF) made available to the IH by the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere are considered.

The Perfect Chapter event is a national championship that brings together the best national and international tube riders invited in a special tube competition, which this year takes place on North Beach, Nazaré.