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Rustington wave buoy daily means for Oct 2016

Daily means from the Rustington wave buoy for Oct 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 1.9 ft (10th–90th percentile 1–4.1 ft), while the reported wave period averaged 6.3 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3–13 seconds). Mean water temperature was 15.5°C (10th–90th percentile 14.6–17.2°C). 28 of 2,966 checked values (0.9%) were excluded by quality control.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

1.9ft
Mean: 2.3 ft
P10–P90: 1 — 4.1 ft
Recorded extremes

0.5 — 6.6 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

6.3secs
P10–P90: 3 — 13secs
Recorded extremes

2 — 20secs

Available for 715 of 743 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

S

Circular concentration: 55%

Mean Water Temperature

15.5°C
P10–P90: 14.6 — 17.2°C
Recorded extremes

14 — 17.8°C

Available for 741 of 743 hourly samples

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Rustington. 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 Rustington wave buoy

Rustington is a National Network Datawell Directional WaveRider in about 9.9 metres of water off West Sussex. First deployed on 15 July 2003, it provides a long nearshore record for the low-lying frontage between Littlehampton and Worthing, where beaches form an important part of the coastal defences.

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

Metrics are rows; days run left to right.
Rustington wave buoy daily means Oct 2016Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)3224543111123235332121321112122
Mean maximum wave height (ft)-------------------------------
Mean peak period (s)-------------------------------
Mean zero-crossing period (s)-------------------------------
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean reported period (s)5867665-52345456556141311467545946
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave direction-------------------------------
Mean directional spread (°)-------------------------------
Mean reported wave directionSWconcentration 97%SWconcentration 97%SSEconcentration 72%SEconcentration 69%ESEconcentration 100%ESEconcentration 100%ESEconcentration 89%SSWconcentration 99%Variableconcentration 26%NNEconcentration 45%Econcentration 80%ESEconcentration 82%ESEconcentration 99%ESEconcentration 98%Sconcentration 91%Sconcentration 99%SSWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 97%SWconcentration 93%SWconcentration 78%SWconcentration 85%SSWconcentration 80%ESEconcentration 100%SEconcentration 82%Sconcentration 75%SSWconcentration 89%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 98%SSWconcentration 87%SEconcentration 89%SSEconcentration 76%
Mean water temperature(°C)17.717.417.217.217.016.616.316.216.115.915.715.615.415.315.215.115.115.014.814.714.514.514.714.814.714.814.814.614.815.015.1

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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 Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme.

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

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