Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Coastal gauge networks contain spatial information that can strengthen water-level hindcasts beyond local temporal memory. Thisstudy comparesstable station connectivity, time-ordered exchange, regional atmospheric conditioning, and event-dependent pair information above a common local forecast across seven tide-gauge networks spanning the Thames–Southern North Sea, New York Bight, Charleston, Gulf/Galveston, Southeast Australia, Tokyo–Tokai, and Los Angeles Bight. Spatial coupling strengthened trajectory reconstruction across the study systems and revealed distinct regional high-water patterns. Combined spatial information was most valuable in the Thames–Southern North Sea, regional atmospheric conditioning produced a coherent Gulf/Galveston proffle, and time-ordered exchange was prominent in Southeast Australia. The comparison further showed that mean trajectory skill, high-water magnitude, event detection, and hindcast-derived warning timing illuminate complementary aspects of coastal forecast performance. The analysis links regional gauge-network structure to the engineering outcomes of coastal water-level hindcasts.</p>