Bluegraph
SIMarineUS

Wave intelligence

The systems in the sea

A buoy's significant wave height sums everything in the sea: long groundswell from a storm a thousand miles off, a closer swell, the chop of the local wind. Each buoy's measured directional spectrum is partitioned into those systems, which are followed through time, used to place the storms the swells came from, and checked for seas that cross.

Stations analysed
162 of 164
Newest spectrum
41 min ago
Systems named
306
Swell · wind sea
199 · 107
Seas crossing
9 buoys
Storms, last month
203 placed →
Window
The last 4 days
Method
Reference

Every buoy by how orderly its largest system is: a narrow directional spread means long crests, as in groundswell; a wide one, short, confused seas.

Each petal is a system, pointing to where it comes from, north up. Its length grows with height (the ring is 4 m); its width is the directional spread. Swell Wind sea Storm placed

StationLargest systemDirectional spread
East Superior 45004 · Great Lakes · 41 min agoSwell 3 s 29° moderate crests
North Michigan 45002 · Great Lakes · 41 min agoSwell 6 s 29° moderate crests
Diamond Shoals, NC 41025 · Eastern Seaboard South · 41 min agoSwell 10 s 29° moderate crests
Cape Mendocino, CA (094) 46213 · California · 1 h agoWind sea 7 s 29° moderate crests
Astoria Canyon, OR (179) 46248 · Pacific Northwest · 1 h agoSwell 12 s 29° moderate crests
Neah Bay, WA 46087 · Pacific Northwest · 4 h agoSwell 11 s 29° moderate crests
Shumagin Islands, AK 46075 · Alaska · 41 min agoSwell 6 s 29° moderate crests
Virginia Beach, VA 44014 · Eastern Seaboard North · 41 min agoSwell 12 s 30° moderate crests
Santa Cruz Basin, CA 46251 · California · 1 h agoWind sea 10 s 30° moderate crests
Cape Elizabeth, WA 46041 · Pacific Northwest · 41 min agoSwell 11 s 30° moderate crests
Ocean Station PAPA (166) 46246 · Pacific Northwest · 3 h agoWind sea 8 s 30° moderate crests
Masonboro Inlet, ILM2, NC (150) 41110 · Eastern Seaboard South · 1 h agoWind sea 10 s 31° moderate crests
Satan Shoal, FL 42095 · Gulf of Mexico · 1 h agoWind sea 6 s 31° moderate crests
Central Caribbean 42058 · Caribbean and tropical Atlantic · 1 h agoWind sea 7 s 31° moderate crests
Oceanside Offshore, CA 46224 · California · 1 h agoWind sea 8 s 31° moderate crests
Stonewall Bank, OR 46050 · Pacific Northwest · 41 min agoSwell 11 s 31° moderate crests
Pearl Harbor Entrance, HI (233) 51211 · Hawaii · 1 h agoWind sea 6 s 31° moderate crests
Thimble Shoal, VA 44087 · Eastern Seaboard North · 1 h agoWind sea 3 s 32° moderate crests
Pensacola, FL 42039 · Gulf of Mexico · 41 min agoWind sea 4 s 32° moderate crests
West Gulf 42002 · Gulf of Mexico · 41 min agoWind sea 6 s 32° moderate crests