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Cap Ferret wave buoy observations on Sat, May 20, 2023

Hourly readings from the Cap Ferret wave buoy for Sat, May 20, 2023, including available wave height, period, direction, wind and sea temperature data.

Last observation shown

Oldest observation available

Daily means for

Latest

Period Summary

Programmatically generated summary. Hog Says

48 wave-buoy observations were recorded during the day. Typical wave height was 4.3 ft (10th–90th percentile 3.8–4.7 ft), while mean peak wave period was 12.2 seconds (10th–90th percentile 11.4–13.3 seconds). Typical calculated wave power was approximately 7.2 kW/m (10th–90th percentile 5.7–9.8 kW/m), derived from significant wave height and energy period. 2 of 144 checked values (1.4%) were excluded by quality control.

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

Line chart showing wave height, wave period and sea temperature for Cap Ferret. Use the detailed observations table below for the same data in text form.

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, wave period, wave direction, directional spread and sea temperature.

Metrics are rows; hours run left to right. Times use your device time zone.
Cap Ferret wave buoy hourly observations Sat, May 20, 2023Last observation shown
Metric
Significant wave height (ft)554444444444444444555555555444555444554444443444
Maximum wave height (ft)687667655666867666877878777787787666766675755655
Peak period (s)--14141414141313131313131313131313131212131212121212121111111112121212121212121112111111111211
Average period (s)6666677798911991191110101010109101099787888777888887898998
Mean period Tm02 (s)555555556566667676777766666555556555565565666666
Peak wave directionNNWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNWWNW
Directional spread (°)17.119.217.517.117.515.216.815.312.917.915.915.114.414.414.016.413.415.210.713.515.213.712.812.212.415.815.016.015.517.614.816.216.720.720.516.418.313.515.416.717.218.814.314.417.216.315.916.5
Water temperature(°C)------------------------------------------------

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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.

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 Cerema CANDHIS coastal wave observatory.

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

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