Channel Lightship
United Kingdom
Last wave reading:
Now at the buoy
Significant wave height at the buoy
4.6 ft
1.4 m
- Dominant period
- 6.2 s
- Direction
- from E 99°
This station does not send a swell and wind-wave split, so the numbers are for the whole sea.
Short-period wind chop: 4.6 ft at 6.2 s from the E. Holding steady over the last 6 hours.
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 tracked the buoy within 10%.
| Day | Height | Peak period | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 13 | 4.0 ft | 6 s | ENE |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 3.2 ft | 7.7 s | S |
| Sun, Nov 15 | 10.2 ft | 8.6 s | WSW |
| Mon, Nov 16 | 8.1 ft | 9.8 s | WSW |
| Tue, Nov 17 | 15.0 ft | 9.9 s | WSW |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 11.9 ft | 12 s | WSW |
| Thu, Nov 19 | 13.5 ft | 15 s | WSW |
ECMWF WAM wave model via Open-Meteo, nearest model cell (50.000°N, 3.000°W). Both lines are significant wave height at sea, the same measure the buoy reports. Model output, not a Quiver beach forecast.
Nearby buoys
- Start Bay wave buoy3.2 ft · 6.3 sLive · 67 km
- Tor Bay wave buoy3.0 ft · 6.3 sLive · 74 km
- Chesil wave buoy1.5 ft · 5.9 sLive · 83 km
- Dawlish wave buoy2.5 ft · 5.9 sLive · 84 km
- Weymouth wave buoy1.6 ft · 5.6 sLive · 88 km
- West Bay wave buoy4.8 ft · 11 sStale · 89 km
Other readings
- Water temperature
- 59°F (15.2°C)
- Wind
- 11 kt from the NE, gusts 15 kt
- Air temperature
- 48°F (9.0°C)
- Pressure
- 1016.0 hPa
Reported Nov 13, 6:00 AM GMT.
How to read this buoy
Channel Lightship is a fixed station on a pier, platform or shore, not a floating buoy. Its waves are shaped by the nearby coast and seabed.
Over the readings shown here, most wave energy reached this buoy from the E and W.
Biggest hourly reading in that record: 7.5 ft at 12 s on Nov 11.
- Station id
- 6200103
- Operator
- Met Office- Exeter
- Program
- Copernicus Marine In Situ
- Position
- 49.900°N, 2.900°W
- Type
- Fixed station
- Local time zone
- Europe/London
- Swell split
- No, whole-sea numbers only
Source: E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information; https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00036. Data from Met Office- Exeter. 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.
