Cabo de Gata buoy
Spain
Last wave reading:
Last reading
This reading is more than 3 hours old. The buoy may have stopped sending waves for now.
Significant wave height at the buoy
7.7 ft
2.3 m
- Dominant period
- 7.2 s
- Direction
- from W 264°
This station does not send a swell and wind-wave split, so the numbers are for the whole sea.
Short-period swell: 7.7 ft at 7.2 s from the W.
Significant wave height is the average of the biggest third of waves at the buoy. It is not surf height at a beach.
Trend at the buoy
Height at the buoy
- Total (significant height)
Period
- Dominant period
Hourly means of the buoy's readings. Arrows point the way the waves travel.
Model vs the buoy
- Buoy, hourly
- Model, past days
- Model forecast
Over the last 2 days, the model ran 14% low against the buoy.
| Day | Height | Peak period | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 13 | 7.1 ft | 6.6 s | WSW |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 5.2 ft | 5.5 s | WSW |
| Sun, Nov 15 | 4.0 ft | 5.3 s | WSW |
| Mon, Nov 16 | 2.3 ft | 3.9 s | WSW |
| Tue, Nov 17 | 6.9 ft | 6.6 s | WSW |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 7.7 ft | 6.9 s | WSW |
| Thu, Nov 19 | 5.2 ft | 5.7 s | WSW |
| Fri, Nov 20 | 5.1 ft | 6 s | WSW |
ECMWF WAM wave model via Open-Meteo, nearest model cell (36.500°N, 2.250°W). Both lines are significant wave height at sea, the same measure the buoy reports. Model output, not a Quiver beach forecast.
Nearby buoys
- Melilla coastal buoy0.9 ft · 6.5 sLive · 149 km
- Malaga coastal buoy1.0 ft · 3.7 sLive · 188 km
- Cabo de Palos buoy6.9 ft · 7.2 sStale · 216 km
- Ceuta coastal buoy1.7 ft · 7.3 sLive · 278 km
- Algeciras-Pta. Carnero coastal buoy1.6 ft · 11 sLive · 282 km
- Villajoyosa coastal buoy2.3 ft · 5 sLive · 285 km
Other readings
- Wind
- 21 kt from the WSW
- Air temperature
- 68°F (19.9°C)
- Pressure
- 1009.2 hPa
Reported Nov 13, 4:00 AM GMT+1.
How to read this buoy
Over the readings shown here, most wave energy reached this buoy from the W and SW.
Biggest hourly reading in that record: 11.9 ft at 7.6 s on Nov 12.
- Station id
- 6100198
- Operator
- Puertos del Estado
- Program
- Copernicus Marine In Situ
- Position
- 36.571°N, 2.340°W
- Type
- Moored buoy
- Local time zone
- Europe/Madrid
- Swell split
- No, whole-sea numbers only
Source: E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information; https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00036. Data from Puertos del Estado. Licence: Copernicus Marine Service licence. Changes: Quiver converts the units (feet, knots, °F) and shows a subset of the published fields.
Not for navigation. Readings can be late, missing or wrong; check official marine forecasts before going to sea.
Buoy terms
- Significant height
- The average of the biggest third of waves the buoy measured. Sets in the surf zone can be bigger or smaller.
- Dominant period
- Seconds between the waves carrying the most energy. Longer period means more power and more bend around points.
- Swell vs wind waves
- Swell was made by distant wind; wind waves were made nearby. The buoy splits its spectrum at a cutoff period to report each.
- Direction
- Where waves come from, in degrees true. 270° is from the west.
