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Ch. Lightship wave buoy daily means for Mar 2016

Daily means from the Ch. Lightship wave buoy for Mar 2016, including available wave height, period, direction, wind and sea temperature data.

Last observation shown

Data available:  to 

Monthly means for

Latest

Period Summary

Programmatically generated summary. Hog Says

743 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 4.3 ft (10th–90th percentile 2–10.8 ft), while mean reported wave period; measurement type unavailable was 7.8 seconds (10th–90th percentile 6–10 seconds). Typical wind was 21.9 mph (10th–90th percentile 9.2–36.9 mph) and mean water temperature was 9.8°C (10th–90th percentile 9.5–10.1°C). All 3,715 checked values passed quality control. Across 6 comparable years, mean wave height was above the same-month mean of 4.1 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 8 seconds.

Generated only from the observations and comparisons shown on this page.

Typical Wave Height

4.3ft
Mean: 5.3 ft
P10–P90: 2 — 10.8 ft
Recorded extremes

0.7 — 18.7 ft

Mean Wave Period

7.8secs
P10–P90: 6 — 10secs
Recorded extremes

5 — 15secs

Mean Water Temperature

9.8°C
P10–P90: 9.5 — 10.1°C
Recorded extremes

9.3 — 10.5°C

Typical Wind

N, 21.9mph
Mean: 22.8 mph
P10–P90: 9.2 — 36.9 mph
Recorded extremes

2.2 — 58.8 mph

Circular concentration: 33%

Compared With Previous Marchs

Historical baseline from 3,882 observations across 6 years.

Wave Height
5.3ft
1.2ft above mean
Historical mean 4.1ft
Wave Period
7.8s
0.2s below mean
Historical mean 8s
Water Temperature
9.8°C
0.4°C above mean
Historical mean 9.4°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Ch. Lightship. Use the table on this page for a text version of the same measurements. To open hourly observations, use a linked day name in the table.

About Ch. Lightship wave buoy

Channel Lightship (WMO 62103) is a UK Met Office station in the central English Channel. Its offshore position provides marine observations away from the immediate influence of the coast and is useful for tracking conditions along this major shipping route. The feed can include wind, pressure, air and sea temperature, visibility and wave observations when available.

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
Ch. Lightship wave buoy daily means Mar 2016Last observation shown
Metric
Mean wave height (ft)611755333QC rejected5334655544311245811141064
Mean observed period(s)7Reported8Reported8Reported8Reported7Reported7Reported6Reported7Reported7Reported7Reported8Reported10Reported9Reported7Reported8Reported7Reported7Reported10Reported6Reported6Reported6Reported9Reported10Reported10Reported8Reported8Reported9Reported9Reported9Reported9Reported8Reported
Mean wave power(kW/m)-------------------------------
Mean wind directionWSWconcentration 94%WNWconcentration 95%WNWconcentration 80%WNWconcentration 81%Nconcentration 94%NNWconcentration 92%Nconcentration 95%Wconcentration 67%NWconcentration 62%NNEconcentration 94%NNEconcentration 83%NNEconcentration 41%ENEconcentration 94%ENEconcentration 97%ENEconcentration 94%NEconcentration 94%ENEconcentration 98%ENEconcentration 96%ENEconcentration 96%NEconcentration 95%NNEconcentration 66%NEconcentration 84%NNWconcentration 74%WSWconcentration 89%Variableconcentration 27%SSWconcentration 82%SSWconcentration 90%Wconcentration 85%WSWconcentration 93%Wconcentration 90%NNWconcentration 78%
Mean wind speed (mph)304228182418211748258519302426251824231211102117303438281816
Mean water temperature(°C)10.210.110.010.09.99.99.99.99.99.89.89.910.09.89.89.89.79.69.59.49.69.69.79.69.79.79.79.89.810.010.0

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Wave metric colour key

Colours move through the scale as each number increases. They do not by themselves mean that conditions are good, safe or suitable for you.

Wave & swell height0–40+ ft
Wave & swell period0–22+ s
Wind speed0–75 mph

The displayed numbers remain the source of truth; colour is an additional visual cue.

Which wave period is shown?

The table shows the best period measurement supplied for each observation. It is not necessarily the energy period used to calculate wave power.

Tp
Peak period: the period at the strongest spectral peak.
Tavg
The provider's average wave period.
Tm02
A mean period calculated from the wave spectrum.
Tz
Mean zero-crossing period.
Reported
A legacy value whose period type was not recorded.
Mixed
A daily or monthly mean containing more than one period type.

Wave power needs a genuine energy period (Te). SurfHog does not substitute Tp, Tavg, Tm02 or Tz when Te is missing.

What does buoy wave power mean?

kW/m means kilowatts of wave power per metre of wave crest. It describes the rate at which the observed sea state carries energy past the buoy.

Unlike the shore-directed forecast value, buoy wave power is the total power at the observation point. It is not projected towards a particular beach and does not predict breaking wave height.

In deep water, wave power can be calculated with:

P is approximately 0.49 times significant wave height squared times wave energy period.

P is power in kW/m, Hs is significant wave height in metres, and Te is wave energy period in seconds.

  • Provider-reported power is used when available.
  • Otherwise, a value is calculated only when both significant height and a genuine energy period are available. The ≈ symbol marks calculated values.
  • A dash is shown instead of substituting peak, Tm02, zero-crossing or other period measurements.
  • Daily and monthly figures use the mean of hourly-normalized observation power values; they are not calculated from mean height and period.

Wave direction, spectrum, water depth and local bathymetry still matter. Wave power is best read alongside height, period and direction rather than as a standalone surf-quality score.

The observation data displayed on this page is from the UK Met Office.

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