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 163
Newest spectrum
1 h ago
Systems named
308
Swell · wind sea
209 · 99
Seas crossing
7 buoys
Storms, last month
183 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
W Gulf of Alaska 46001 · Alaska · 1 h agoSwell 9 s 23° long crests
Shelikof Strait, AK 46077 · Alaska · 1 h agoWind sea 6 s 27° moderate crests
Shumagin Islands, AK 46075 · Alaska · 2 h agoWind sea 6 s 28° moderate crests
Central Gulf of Alaska 46085 · Alaska · 1 h agoSwell 9 s 29° moderate crests
Portlock Bank, AK 46080 · Alaska · 1 h agoSwell 7 s 30° moderate crests
Central Aleutians, AK 46072 · Alaska · 2 h agoSwell 5 s 34° moderate crests
Lower Cook Inlet, AK 46108 · Alaska · 2 h agoWind sea 5 s 35° moderate crests
W Aleutians (Amchitka), AK 46071 · Alaska · 2 h agoWind sea 6 s 36° moderate crests
Albatross Bank, AK 46078 · Alaska · 2 h agoWind sea 8 s 37° moderate crests
Fairweather Ground, AK 46083 · Alaska · 2 h agoSwell 9 s 37° moderate crests
Cape Cleare, AK 46076 · Alaska · 1 h agoSwell 8 s 38° moderate crests
Cape Edgecumbe, AK 46084 · Alaska · 1 h agoSwell 10 s 38° moderate crests
Seal Rocks, AK 46061 · Alaska · 2 h agoSwell 10 s 40° moderate crests
Central Bering Sea, AK Offshore 46035 · Alaska · 2 h agoSwell 6 s 41° short, confused crests
Cape Suckling, AK 46082 · Alaska · 2 h agoSwell 10 s 42° short, confused crests
South Kodiak, AK 46066 · Alaska · 1 h agoWind sea 8 s 44° short, confused crests
West Orca Bay, AK 46060 · Alaska · 2 h agoSwell 10 s 52° short, confused crests
Southwest Bering Sea, AK 46070 · Alaska · 2 h agoSwell 7 s 53° short, confused crests
Southeast Bering Sea, AK 46073 · Alaska No spectrum in the last six hours
Western Prince William Sound 46081 · Alaska · 2 h agoCalm: no wave system large enough to name