Shom is the national referent for the level of the sea in situ on all areas under French jurisdiction. In this capacity, he assures under the acronym REFMAR different coordination functions in the collection and dissemination of public data related to water level observations, in order to promote their use in multiple applications within the framework of international recommendations.

Shom manages a network of permanent digital coastal tide-gauges on French coasts: the RONIM Sea Level Observation Network. Most tide-gauge observatories are partnered with one or more local partners.<br /><br /> Four main types of data are available for download:<br /> - “Raw high frequency" data: raw observations neither validated nor evaluated, obtained directly from the sensor. 1-minute measurement; integration time 15 seconds (on the minute); sampling period: 1 second.<br /><br /> - "Raw non-real time" data: raw observations neither validated nor evaluated, obtained directly from the sensor. 10-minute measurement; integration time 121 seconds (around every 10 minutes); sampling period: 1 second.<br /><br /> - "Validated non-real time" data: observations checked and validated by Shom from the "Raw non-real time" data. 10-minute measurement; integration time 121 seconds (around every 10 minutes); sampling period: 1 second.<br /><br /> - "Validated hourly" data: observations checked and validated by Shom, generated from "Validated non-real time" data. Hourly measurement obtained from the Vondrak filter with triangular weighting. The hourly height cannot be calculated in the event of an observation gap greater than 1.5 hours.

Shom uses HYCOM 3D (Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model) digital models to model changes to the ocean environment (currents, temperature, salinity, water depth). These HYCOM 3D models include a scalable (space and time) vertical grid, which is particularly suitable for the coastal regions and physical phenomena modelled (particularly the transition from a deep sea zone to the continental shelf, and the presence of frontal zones). These models were adapted to coastal models at Shom, particularly by integrating tides and the effects of rivers. These models focus on changes and variability in the different physical processes affecting coastal areas (continental shelves and slopes), such as tidal fronts, river plumes, tides and internal waves, upwelling and the dynamics of the mixed layer at an hourly frequency and with high spatial resolution (1/60 deg for the Biscay Channel model).