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
42 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
Angeles Point, WA (248) 46267 · Pacific Northwest · 1 h agoSwell 11 s 15° long crests
Grays Harbor, WA 46211 · Pacific Northwest · 1 h agoSwell 11 s 20° long crests
Tillamook Bay South Jetty, OR 46278 · Pacific Northwest · 1 h agoSwell 11 s 23° long crests
West Washington 46005 · Pacific Northwest · 42 min agoSwell 10 s 23° long crests
Tillamook, OR 46089 · Pacific Northwest · 42 min agoSwell 11 s 28° 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
Cape Elizabeth, WA 46041 · Pacific Northwest · 42 min agoSwell 11 s 30° moderate crests
Ocean Station PAPA (166) 46246 · Pacific Northwest · 3 h agoWind sea 8 s 30° moderate crests
Stonewall Bank, OR 46050 · Pacific Northwest · 42 min agoSwell 11 s 31° moderate crests
Clatsop Spit, OR 46243 · Pacific Northwest · 1 h agoWind sea 10 s 32° moderate crests
Umpqua, OR Offshore 46229 · Pacific Northwest · 1 h agoWind sea 11 s 32° moderate crests
Columbia River Bar, OR 46029 · Pacific Northwest · 42 min agoSwell 12 s 36° moderate crests
West Oregon 46002 · Pacific Northwest · 42 min agoSwell 10 s 37° moderate crests
Port Orford, OR 46015 · Pacific Northwest · 1 h agoSwell 11 s 52° short, confused crests
New Dungeness, WA 46088 · Pacific Northwest · 42 min agoCalm: no wave system large enough to name