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Sandown Bay wave buoy daily means for Mar 2013

Daily means from the Sandown Bay wave buoy for Mar 2013, 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

1,486 wave-buoy observations covered all 31 days. Typical wave height was 2 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.7–4.7 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 5.3 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3.6–6.9 seconds). Mean water temperature was 5.8°C (10th–90th percentile 5.5–6.1°C). 11 of 5,926 checked values (0.2%) were excluded by quality control. Across 3 comparable years, mean wave height was above the same-month mean of 1.4 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 5.6 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

2ft
Mean: 2.4 ft
P10–P90: 0.7 — 4.7 ft
Recorded extremes

0.4 — 8.2 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

5.3secs
P10–P90: 3.6 — 6.9secs
Recorded extremes

2.2 — 14.3secs

Available for 741 of 743 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

SE

Circular concentration: 91%

Mean Water Temperature

5.8°C
P10–P90: 5.5 — 6.1°C
Recorded extremes

5.2 — 6.5°C

Compared With Previous Marchs

Historical baseline from 4,452 observations across 3 years.

Wave Height
2.4ft
1ft above mean
Historical mean 1.378ft
Wave Period
5.3s
0.3s below mean
Historical mean 5.6s
Water Temperature
5.8°C
1.5°C below mean
Historical mean 7.3°C

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

Sandown Bay is a Channel Coastal Observatory National Network wave station off the east coast of the Isle of Wight. Its nearshore record represents conditions entering the bay between Culver Down and Dunnose, helping monitor a developed and erosion-sensitive frontage exposed to English Channel seas.

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.
Sandown Bay wave buoy daily means Mar 2013Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)2233111112QC rejected4113QC rejected311146433221222
Mean maximum wave height (ft)33552111147521594212710655432444
Mean peak period (s)5555435985776467545557655554555
Mean zero-crossing period (s)4444333454554345443445444443444
Mean energy period (s)-------------------------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre-------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionSEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 98%ESEconcentration 98%ESEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 98%ESEconcentration 98%SEconcentration 90%SSEconcentration 96%Sconcentration 99%ESEconcentration 88%ESEconcentration 99%ESEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 97%SSEconcentration 96%Sconcentration 99%SSEconcentration 99%SSEconcentration 98%SSEconcentration 96%SEconcentration 87%ESEconcentration 94%ESEconcentration 99%ESEconcentration 100%ESEconcentration 100%ESEconcentration 99%ESEconcentration 99%ESEconcentration 98%ESEconcentration 97%SEconcentration 98%SEconcentration 98%SEconcentration 98%SEconcentration 99%
Mean directional spread (°)23.325.021.120.331.128.529.233.429.321.116.017.329.831.721.620.623.327.527.523.915.914.015.316.918.822.125.726.824.623.023.9
Mean water temperature(°C)5.65.65.55.55.65.85.85.96.16.15.85.35.65.96.06.06.06.06.06.16.06.16.16.05.95.85.85.85.75.65.5

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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