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Rustington wave buoy daily means for Sep 2016

Daily means from the Rustington wave buoy for Sep 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

716 wave-buoy observations covered all 30 days. Typical wave height was 2 ft (10th–90th percentile 1–4.1 ft), while the reported wave period averaged 7.3 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3–12 seconds). Mean water temperature was 19.1°C (10th–90th percentile 18.2–19.8°C). 31 of 2,861 checked values (1.1%) were excluded by quality control.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

2ft
Mean: 2.3 ft
P10–P90: 1 — 4.1 ft
Recorded extremes

0.6 — 6.5 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

7.3secs
P10–P90: 3 — 12secs
Recorded extremes

2 — 17secs

Available for 685 of 716 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

SW

Circular concentration: 88%

Mean Water Temperature

19.1°C
P10–P90: 18.2 — 19.8°C
Recorded extremes

17.7 — 20.4°C

Available for 715 of 716 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 Sep 2016Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)232421133322221221111213534353
Mean maximum wave height (ft)------------------------------
Mean peak period (s)------------------------------
Mean zero-crossing period (s)------------------------------
Mean energy period (s)------------------------------
Mean reported period (s)95478101177510712995459129584696765
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre------------------------------
Mean peak wave direction------------------------------
Mean directional spread (°)------------------------------
Mean reported wave directionSWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 99%SSWconcentration 96%SWconcentration 100%SSWconcentration 91%SWconcentration 81%SSWconcentration 97%SSWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 99%Sconcentration 85%SWconcentration 99%SSWconcentration 97%SSWconcentration 88%SWconcentration 69%WNWconcentration 62%SSWconcentration 34%SSWconcentration 70%SWconcentration 94%SSWconcentration 85%SWconcentration 97%SWconcentration 99%Sconcentration 98%SSWconcentration 94%SWconcentration 100%SSWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 98%
Mean water temperature(°C)19.819.819.619.419.319.419.619.619.519.319.319.319.519.719.819.719.419.119.018.818.818.818.718.618.618.418.218.118.017.8

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.

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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