Current Display
The lighthouse is fitted with three 90-watt Osram Halostar lights with a range of 17 nautical miles (31 km; 20 mi). These will be replaced by two 150-watt lights with a range of 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) by the end of 2012, in preparation for the closure of Orfordness lighthouse in 2015.
The current light characteristic is four white flashes every 20 seconds (Fl(4).W.20s) visible between 220°–001°, with two red sectors with the same characteristics. These are seen from the south between 204°–220° and from the north between 001°–032.3°, with a range of 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi). The white light is used for general navigation, whilst the red sectors mark shoals to the north and offshore sandbanks at Sizewell to the south.
Read more about this topic: Southwold Lighthouse
Famous quotes containing the words current and/or display:
“Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“You gave him an opportunity to display greatness of character, and he let it slip away. For that he will never forgive you.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)