PUERTO ARMUELLES

Documentation added 1991-06-11

Puerto Armuelles 840/001 RLR(1964) is 12.6m below BM3

Documentation added 1995-09-08

The sea level difference either side of the Panama Canal is approx. 20 cm (higher on the Pacific side) - see for example, Pugh, D.T. 1987, "Tides, surges and mean sea-level", Wiley. RLR 1964 datum at Balboa is 3.112 m below the "Tide Staff Zero" which is itself 12 feet below Panama Canal Precise Level Datum (PLD). On the Atlantic side, at Coco Solo RLR 1993 is 6.288 m below the Tide Staff Zero which is itself 2 feet below PLD there. For the older Cristobal data, RLR 1964 is 6.138 m below the Tide Staff Zero which is itself 2 feet below PLD. From inspection of RLR data and from this information, one can indeed verify that sea level is higher on the Pacific side by about 20 cm. However, the accuracy of the PLD national levelling
system is unclear. Data prior to 1984 supplied by NOAA

Documentation added 1996-02-26

Data 1983 and since 1992 received from TOGA office

Documentation added 1996-10-09

Gauge type=standard mechanical float and well gauge

Documentation added 2002-10-31

Puerto Armuelles - correction factor (RLRFAC) 1983- calculated from correspondance 19/10/92.

Documentation added 2003-02-27

Data after 1968 has been moved to a new data series, Puerto Armuelles B (840/002), since it has not been possible to link the two series together with a common datum.