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
54 min ago
Systems named
299
Swell · wind sea
194 · 105
Seas crossing
4 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
Shelikof Strait, AK 46077 · Alaska · 54 min agoWind sea 6 s 26° moderate crests
Central Bering Sea, AK Offshore 46035 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 7 s 27° moderate crests
Portlock Bank, AK 46080 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 7 s 28° moderate crests
Central Aleutians, AK 46072 · Alaska · 1 h agoWind sea 5 s 30° moderate crests
Fairweather Ground, AK 46083 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 10 s 31° moderate crests
Lower Cook Inlet, AK 46108 · Alaska · 2 h agoWind sea 5 s 31° moderate crests
Central Gulf of Alaska 46085 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 10 s 32° moderate crests
Cape Edgecumbe, AK 46084 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 10 s 35° moderate crests
W Aleutians (Amchitka), AK 46071 · Alaska · 54 min agoWind sea 5 s 36° moderate crests
Albatross Bank, AK 46078 · Alaska · 54 min agoWind sea 7 s 38° moderate crests
Shumagin Islands, AK 46075 · Alaska · 54 min agoWind sea 6 s 38° moderate crests
South Kodiak, AK 46066 · Alaska · 54 min agoWind sea 8 s 38° moderate crests
Cape Suckling, AK 46082 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 10 s 43° short, confused crests
W Gulf of Alaska 46001 · Alaska · 1 h agoWind sea 8 s 43° short, confused crests
Cape Cleare, AK 46076 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 9 s 44° short, confused crests
Seal Rocks, AK 46061 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 10 s 50° short, confused crests
Southwest Bering Sea, AK 46070 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 8 s 54° short, confused crests
West Orca Bay, AK 46060 · Alaska · 54 min agoSwell 8 s 81° short, confused crests
Southeast Bering Sea, AK 46073 · Alaska No spectrum in the last six hours
Western Prince William Sound 46081 · Alaska · 1 h agoCalm: no wave system large enough to name