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St Mary's Sound wave buoy monthly means for 2023

Monthly means from the St Mary's Sound wave buoy for 2023, including available wave height, period, direction, wind and sea temperature data.

Last observation shown

Data available:  to 

Latest

Period Summary

Programmatically generated summary. Hog Says

15,770 wave-buoy observations covered 331 of 365 days (91%). Typical wave height was 3.7 ft (10th–90th percentile 1.7–7.9 ft), while mean average of more than one wave period type was 8.4 seconds (10th–90th percentile 5.5–11.5 seconds). Typical wind was 0 mph and mean water temperature was 13.3°C (10th–90th percentile 10.7–15.9°C). 170 of 63,442 checked values (0.3%) were excluded by quality control.

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

Typical Significant Wave Height

3.7ft
Mean: 4.3 ft
P10–P90: 1.7 — 7.9 ft
Recorded extremes

0.1 — 17.5 ft

Mean Observed Wave Period

8.4secs
P10–P90: 5.5 — 11.5secs
Recorded extremes

2.6 — 20secs

Available for 7,892 of 7,902 hourly samples

Observed Wave Direction

SW

Circular concentration: 57%

Mean Water Temperature

13.3°C
P10–P90: 10.7 — 15.9°C
Recorded extremes

9.9 — 19.2°C

Available for 7,901 of 7,902 hourly samples

Chart showing grouped wave observations for St Mary's Sound. Use the table on this page for a text version of the same measurements. To open daily observations, use a linked month name in the table.

About St Mary's Sound wave buoy

St Mary's Sound station lies between St Mary's and St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly. The National Network first deployed a Datawell Directional WaveRider here in May 2014, establishing a nearshore record for an archipelago exposed to Atlantic swell and important to local navigation and coastal management.

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

Metrics are rows; months run left to right.
St Mary's Sound wave buoy monthly means 2023Last observation shown
Metric
Mean significant wave height (ft)746433434556
Mean maximum wave height (ft)1179644656889
Mean peak period (s)91310888788998
Mean zero-crossing period (s)656555555555
Mean energy period (s)------------
Mean reported period (s)6--555555555
Mean wave power, kilowatts per metre------------
Mean peak wave directionSWconcentration 85%SSEconcentration 56%SSWconcentration 87%SWconcentration 49%Variableconcentration 14%SSWconcentration 39%WSWconcentration 73%WSWconcentration 58%SWconcentration 56%SWconcentration 68%SWconcentration 58%SWconcentration 72%
Mean directional spread (°)41.134.939.742.443.235.442.845.440.741.044.641.0
Mean reported wave directionSWconcentration 77%--SSWconcentration 52%Variableconcentration 12%SSWconcentration 40%WSWconcentration 72%WSWconcentration 58%SWconcentration 56%SWconcentration 69%SWconcentration 58%SWconcentration 71%
Mean water temperature(°C)11.110.210.410.912.314.415.715.715.914.612.811.9

Swipe sideways to see more months.

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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