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
161 of 162
Newest spectrum
34 min ago
Systems named
305
Swell · wind sea
196 · 109
Seas crossing
11 buoys
Storms, last month
173 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
Grays Harbor, WA 46211 · Pacific Northwest · 54 min agoSwell 12 s 17° long crests
Clatsop Spit, OR 46243 · Pacific Northwest · 54 min agoSwell 10 s 19° long crests
Umpqua, OR Offshore 46229 · Pacific Northwest · 54 min agoSwell 12 s 20° long crests
Astoria Canyon, OR (179) 46248 · Pacific Northwest · 54 min agoSwell 12 s 23° long crests
Tillamook Bay South Jetty, OR 46278 · Pacific Northwest · 54 min agoSwell 11 s 27° moderate crests
Tillamook, OR 46089 · Pacific Northwest · 34 min agoSwell 11 s 28° moderate crests
Angeles Point, WA (248) 46267 · Pacific Northwest · 54 min agoSwell 10 s 29° moderate crests
Columbia River Bar, OR 46029 · Pacific Northwest · 34 min agoSwell 12 s 29° moderate crests
Neah Bay, WA 46087 · Pacific Northwest · 34 min agoGroundswell 14 s 30° moderate crests
Cape Elizabeth, WA 46041 · Pacific Northwest · 34 min agoGroundswell 13 s 32° moderate crests
Ocean Station PAPA (166) 46246 · Pacific Northwest · 54 min agoSwell 10 s 32° moderate crests
West Oregon 46002 · Pacific Northwest · 34 min agoSwell 11 s 33° moderate crests
New Dungeness, WA 46088 · Pacific Northwest · 34 min agoWind sea 3 s 34° moderate crests
Port Orford, OR 46015 · Pacific Northwest · 34 min agoSwell 11 s 35° moderate crests
Stonewall Bank, OR 46050 · Pacific Northwest · 34 min agoSwell 12 s 39° moderate crests
West Washington 46005 · Pacific Northwest · 34 min agoSwell 11 s 41° short, confused crests