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Seaford wave buoy daily means for Apr 2023

Daily means from the Seaford wave buoy for Apr 2023, 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 1.4 ft (10th–90th percentile 0.8–4.7 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 7.6 seconds (10th–90th percentile 4–12.5 seconds). Typical wind was 0 mph and mean water temperature was 10.4°C (10th–90th percentile 9.7–10.9°C). 24 of 5,711 checked values (0.4%) were excluded by quality control. Across 9 comparable years, mean wave height was above the same-month mean of 1.6 ft and mean wave period was above the same-month mean of 6.5 seconds.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

1.4ft
Mean: 2.2 ft
P10–P90: 0.8 — 4.7 ft
Recorded extremes

0.4 — 12.9 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

7.6secs
P10–P90: 4 — 12.5secs
Recorded extremes

1.7 — 16.7secs

Available for 716 of 718 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

SSW

Circular concentration: 79%

Mean Water Temperature

10.4°C
P10–P90: 9.7 — 10.9°C
Recorded extremes

9.2 — 12.4°C

Compared With Previous Aprils

Historical baseline from 6,318 observations across 9 years.

Wave Height
2.2ft
0.6ft above mean
Historical mean 1.6ft
Wave Period
7.6s
1.1s above mean
Historical mean 6.5s
Water Temperature
10.4°C
0.3°C above mean
Historical mean 10.1°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 Apr 2023Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)QC rejected2111QC rejected1114585421111111QC rejected2122311
Mean maximum wave height (ft)7322252127812963222221163133521
Mean peak period (s)91179125101113567651010912954555844579
Mean zero-crossing period (s)564454443445545544344344433444
Mean energy period (s)------------------------------
Mean reported period (s)-----44-3445445544344344433444
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre------------------------------
Mean peak wave directionSWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 99%Sconcentration 76%SSEconcentration 74%SSWconcentration 98%SWconcentration 100%SWconcentration 96%SSWconcentration 88%SSWconcentration 91%SSWconcentration 92%SWconcentration 97%SWconcentration 98%WSWconcentration 100%Sconcentration 85%SWconcentration 94%SWconcentration 89%SWconcentration 81%Sconcentration 73%SSEconcentration 83%SEconcentration 77%SSEconcentration 94%SSWconcentration 82%SSWconcentration 94%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 90%SEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 99%SWconcentration 88%WSWconcentration 100%SWconcentration 97%
Mean directional spread (°)18.227.428.138.140.921.243.049.554.825.420.020.116.922.231.436.737.654.137.529.137.043.323.025.934.618.819.518.322.335.3
Mean reported wave direction-----SWconcentration 100%SSWconcentration 97%-Sconcentration 82%SSWconcentration 92%SWconcentration 97%SWconcentration 96%WSWconcentration 100%Sconcentration 85%SWconcentration 92%SWconcentration 90%SWconcentration 81%Sconcentration 79%SSEconcentration 85%SEconcentration 72%SSEconcentration 94%SSWconcentration 84%SSWconcentration 94%SWconcentration 99%SWconcentration 90%SEconcentration 99%SEconcentration 98%SWconcentration 88%WSWconcentration 100%SWconcentration 93%
Mean water temperature(°C)9.99.69.69.69.69.89.910.010.110.210.310.310.410.210.210.510.610.410.410.510.510.610.710.810.910.810.811.111.211.6

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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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