Skip to content
Surfhog home
Menu

Looe Bay wave buoy monthly means for 2013

Monthly means from the Looe Bay wave buoy for 2013, 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

1,375 wave-buoy observations covered 59 of 365 days (16%). Typical wave height was 3.1 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.8–8.3 ft), while mean reported wave period; measurement type unavailable was 9.1 seconds (10th–90th percentile 5–13 seconds). Mean water temperature was 12°C (10th–90th percentile 11–13.5°C). 37 of 5,500 checked values (0.7%) were excluded by quality control.

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

Typical Wave Height

3.1ft
Mean: 3.8 ft
P10–P90: 0.8 — 8.3 ft
Recorded extremes

0.4 — 18.1 ft

Available for 1,374 of 1,375 hourly samples

Mean Wave Period

9.1secs
P10–P90: 5 — 13secs
Recorded extremes

2 — 20secs

Available for 1,339 of 1,375 hourly samples

Wave Direction

SSW

Circular concentration: 90%

Mean Water Temperature

12°C
P10–P90: 11 — 13.5°C
Recorded extremes

9.7 — 14°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Looe Bay. 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 Looe Bay wave buoy

Looe Bay is a Datawell Directional WaveRider station off southeast Cornwall. First deployed in June 2009, it measures the wave climate entering the bay and the approaches to Looe. Observations include wave height, period and direction, sea temperature and calculated wave power; a nearby meteorological station provides separate weather measurements.

Metrics are rows; months run left to right.
Looe Bay wave buoy monthly means 2013Last observation shown
Metric
Mean wave height (ft)----------25
Mean observed period(s)----------9Reported9Reported
Mean wave power(kW/m)------------
Mean wave direction----------SSWconcentration 86%SSWconcentration 94%
Mean water temperature(°C)----------12.811.2

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.

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.

Realtime data displayed on this page is from the Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme.

› Wave Buoy List