A specialist computing firm has stepped forward to help with the search for Corrie’s missing seal after it was washed away during Storm Isha.
The story of the missing wooden seal, known as Clyde, caught the eye of Tom Scanlon, director of a scientific organisation which specialises in coastal flow modelling.
Tom, who works for engineering consultants MTS-CFD, used advanced software at his disposal to model where the seal is most likely to have washed ashore. He entered all of the marine and meteorological data into his simulation and created a virtual seal to try and establish the carving’s most likely location.
Tom said: “We read with much interest about Clyde and his most recent swimming adventure under Storm Isha at Corrie and wondered if we could help.
“To this end, we ran our Firth of Clyde computer model to predict where a virtual Clyde could possibly end up. Our computer model is normally used for applications in marine environmental modelling.
“Virtual particles representing the seal were released from Corrie at 20 minute intervals over a period of four days from the time we suspect Clyde was washed away. Weather conditions for Storm Isha were included in the model, such as wind and air pressure, along with tidal currents and the fate of the particles give a prediction of the most likely path and destination of Clyde.
“All models are predictions based on a series of underlying physical assumptions, but I hope that this scientific study can perhaps help focus the search around likely destinations."
According to the computer model, the most likely beaching points are the south-west coast of Bute, the west coast of Little Cumbrae and an Ayrshire beach from Hunterston towards Troon.
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