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Happisburgh wave buoy monthly means for 2020

Monthly means from the Happisburgh wave buoy for 2020, including available wave height, period, direction, wind and sea temperature data.

Last observation shown

Data available:  to 

Latest

Period Summary

Programmatically generated summary. Hog Says

17,351 wave-buoy observations covered 365 of 366 days (100%). Typical wave height was 1.7 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.9–3.9 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 6.5 seconds (10th–90th percentile 4–10 seconds). Mean water temperature was 11.6°C (10th–90th percentile 6.2–17.8°C). 101 of 68,796 checked values (0.1%) were excluded by quality control.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

1.7ft
Mean: 2.1 ft
P10–P90: 0.9 — 3.9 ft
Recorded extremes

0.3 — 13.6 ft

Available for 8,731 of 8,735 hourly samples

Mean Observed Wave Period

6.5secs
P10–P90: 4 — 10secs
Recorded extremes

1.7 — 25secs

Available for 8,715 of 8,735 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

NE

Circular concentration: 80%

Mean Water Temperature

11.6°C
P10–P90: 6.2 — 17.8°C
Recorded extremes

5.4 — 20.6°C

Available for 8,730 of 8,735 hourly samples

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Happisburgh. Use the table on this page for a text version of the same measurements. To open daily observations, use a linked month name in the table.

About Happisburgh wave buoy

Happisburgh is a Channel Coastal Observatory wave station off the northeast Norfolk coast. It supplies a nearshore North Sea record for one of England's most rapidly changing soft-cliff frontages, where communities, beaches and coastal defences are exposed to frequent erosion.

Its current data source reports wave height, wave period, wave direction, directional spread and sea temperature.

Metrics are rows; months run left to right.
Happisburgh wave buoy monthly means 2020Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)223222223222
Mean peak period (s)777775667777
Mean zero-crossing period (s)444444444444
Mean peak wave directionNEconcentration 75%NNEconcentration 73%NEconcentration 81%NEconcentration 89%NNEconcentration 86%NEconcentration 84%NNEconcentration 83%NNEconcentration 82%NNEconcentration 87%NEconcentration 79%NEconcentration 77%NEconcentration 77%
Mean directional spread (°)30.427.628.528.931.129.930.327.929.128.029.226.2
Mean water temperature(°C)6.46.16.69.312.515.817.318.816.012.410.27.2

Swipe sideways to see more months.

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 Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme.

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

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