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Seaford wave buoy daily means for Sep 2020

Daily means from the Seaford wave buoy for Sep 2020, 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

1,432 wave-buoy observations covered all 30 days. Typical wave height was 1.7 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.6–4.2 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 5.3 seconds (10th–90th percentile 3.3–7.2 seconds). Mean water temperature was 17.9°C (10th–90th percentile 16.6–18.5°C). 11 of 5,675 checked values (0.2%) were excluded by quality control. Across 6 comparable years, mean wave height was below the same-month mean of 2.3 ft and mean wave period was below the same-month mean of 5.9 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

1.7ft
Mean: 2 ft
P10–P90: 0.6 — 4.2 ft
Recorded extremes

0.3 — 8.8 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

5.3secs
P10–P90: 3.3 — 7.2secs
Recorded extremes

1.7 — 20secs

Observed Wave Direction

SW

Circular concentration: 80%

Mean Water Temperature

17.9°C
P10–P90: 16.6 — 18.5°C
Recorded extremes

16.2 — 19.3°C

Compared With Previous Septembers

Historical baseline from 4,212 observations across 6 years.

Wave Height
2ft
0.3ft below mean
Historical mean 2.297ft
Wave Period
5.3s
0.6s below mean
Historical mean 5.9s
Water Temperature
17.9°C
0.1°C below mean
Historical mean 18°C

Chart showing grouped wave observations for Seaford. 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 Seaford wave buoy

Seaford is a National Network Datawell Directional WaveRider in about 11 metres of water off East Sussex. First deployed on 22 January 2008, it records waves reaching Seaford Bay between Newhaven and Beachy Head and supports assessment of the town's exposed shingle frontage.

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.
Seaford wave buoy daily means Sep 2020Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)11QC rejected222232113211111111146432224
Mean maximum wave height (ft)1274323431243111222112610653337
Mean peak period (s)4755454544554677551294357664445
Mean zero-crossing period (s)334433343333333343344345543334
Mean energy period (s)------------------------------
Mean reported period (s)5754454-----------------------
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionSconcentration 87%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 99%WSWconcentration 99%WSWconcentration 98%WSWconcentration 97%SWconcentration 96%SWconcentration 100%SWconcentration 100%Sconcentration 76%WSWconcentration 97%WSWconcentration 100%WSWconcentration 99%Sconcentration 68%SSWconcentration 78%SSWconcentration 75%SEconcentration 95%SEconcentration 94%SSEconcentration 82%SSEconcentration 86%Sconcentration 93%SWconcentration 91%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 100%SWconcentration 99%WSWconcentration 98%Wconcentration 86%WSWconcentration 95%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 99%
Mean directional spread (°)42.538.018.423.823.226.127.219.420.734.226.617.325.135.241.542.227.127.650.144.840.534.321.418.715.617.222.024.324.523.5
Mean reported wave directionSconcentration 80%SWconcentration 98%WSWconcentration 99%WSWconcentration 99%WSWconcentration 97%WSWconcentration 97%SWconcentration 99%-----------------------
Mean water temperature(°C)18.418.418.318.218.118.118.118.118.218.418.318.218.318.418.618.718.618.418.318.318.218.218.117.717.316.916.616.416.516.5

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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