The Divider Dimensions of the Irish Coast

Authors

  • Mark McCartney University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
  • Gavin Abernethy University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
  • Lisa Gault University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55650/igj.2010.72

Abstract

A set of 50 1:50,000 scale Ordnance Survey maps which cover the entire coastline of Ireland, and a single 1:850,000 scale map are used to perform a divider dimension analysis over step lengths from 100 m to 10 km (using the 1:50,000 scale maps) and 17 km to 170 km (using the 1:850,000 scale map). The coastline is divided into 39 stretches and a divider dimension analysis is performed on each. A variation of divider dimension is found as the coast in traversed, with the dimension tending to be higher on the western coast. The combined data from all the maps is used to create a Richardson plot which allows a power law to be produced to estimate the length of the Irish coast over step lengths ranging from 100 m to 100 km.

Author Biographies

Mark McCartney, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

School of Computing and Mathematics,

Gavin Abernethy, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

School of Computing and Mathematics

Lisa Gault, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

School of Computing and Mathematics

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Published

2014-04-13

How to Cite

McCartney, M., Abernethy, G., & Gault, L. (2014). The Divider Dimensions of the Irish Coast. Irish Geography, 43(3), 277–284. https://doi.org/10.55650/igj.2010.72

Issue

Vol. 43 No. 3 (2010): Issue 3

Section

Articles

URN

http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:irg:ie:0000-igj.v43i3.729

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