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Cap Ferret wave buoy daily means for May 2012

Daily means from the Cap Ferret wave buoy for May 2012, 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

1,488 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 3.7 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.5–5.7 ft), while mean peak wave period was 8.4 seconds (10th–90th percentile 5.3–11.2 seconds). Typical calculated wave power was approximately 4 kW/m (10th–90th percentile 0.7–13.3 kW/m), derived from significant wave height and energy period. 5 of 4,464 checked values (0.1%) were excluded by quality control. Across 1 comparable year, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 5.2 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 10.7 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

3.7ft
Mean: 3.8 ft
P10–P90: 1.5 — 5.7 ft
Recorded extremes

1 — 12.4 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

8.4secs
P10–P90: 5.3 — 11.2secs
Recorded extremes

2.7 — 13.5secs

Typical Wave Power

Approximately 3.97kW/m
Mean: 6.01kW/m
P10–P90: 0.69 — 13.25kW/m
Recorded extremes

0.27 — 54.64kW/m

Calculated from significant wave height and energy period.

Typical Observed Wind

-, -mph
Mean: - mph
P10–P90: - — - mph

Available for 0 of 744 hourly samples

Mean Water Temperature

-°C
P10–P90: - — -°C

Available for 0 of 744 hourly samples

Compared With Previous Mays

Historical baseline from 1,488 observations across 1 year.

Wave Height
3.8ft
1.4ft below mean
Historical mean 5.217ft
Wave Period
8.4s
2.3s below mean
Historical mean 10.7s
Water Temperature
–
Not enough comparable data

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Cap Ferret. 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 Cap Ferret wave buoy

Cap Ferret is a long-running CANDHIS directional buoy off the Aquitaine coast, operated within France's national in-situ sea-state observatory. It provides an offshore reference for the energetic Bay of Biscay swell approaching the Arcachon inlet and the long, sandy and erosion-prone Landes coastline.

Its current data source reports wave height and wave period.

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
Cap Ferret wave buoy daily means May 2012Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)QC rejected2122322234542663546QC rejected6454445333
Mean maximum wave height (ft)732344233577649858691610786778444
Mean average period (s)876555657876547957667681011788767
Mean peak wave directionWNWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 94%Wconcentration 92%Wconcentration 94%Wconcentration 97%WNWconcentration 100%Wconcentration 91%WNWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 96%NWconcentration 99%NNWconcentration 98%NNWconcentration 99%NWconcentration 99%NWconcentration 100%Wconcentration 52%Wconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 96%NWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 99%NWconcentration 99%WNWconcentration 99%Wconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%Wconcentration 97%Wconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%WNWconcentration 100%Wconcentration 100%
Mean directional spread (°)21.624.125.528.529.321.426.424.820.919.219.118.019.221.416.716.228.417.322.122.921.930.419.014.916.020.514.214.218.422.315.9

Swipe sideways to see more days.

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.

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.

Observation data source

Learn how SurfHog combines, checks and summarizes observations in the data and methodology notes.

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