Folkestone wave buoy
United Kingdom
Last wave reading:
Now at the buoy
Significant wave height at the buoy
1.3 ft
0.4 m
- Dominant period
- 9.1 s
- Direction
- from E 96°
This station does not send a swell and wind-wave split, so the numbers are for the whole sea.
Short-period swell: 1.3 ft at 9.1 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 ran 102% high against the buoy.
| Day | Height | Peak period | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 13 | 2.4 ft | 5 s | N |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 2.4 ft | 3.6 s | SSE |
| Sun, Nov 15 | 7.5 ft | 6 s | SSW |
| Mon, Nov 16 | 4.5 ft | 6.7 s | WSW |
| Tue, Nov 17 | 6.2 ft | 7.7 s | SSW |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 4.9 ft | 8.2 s | SW |
| Thu, Nov 19 | 3.9 ft | 6.9 s | SW |
ECMWF WAM wave model via Open-Meteo, nearest model cell (51.000°N, 1.250°E). Both lines are significant wave height at sea, the same measure the buoy reports. Model output, not a Quiver beach forecast.
Nearby buoys
- Goodwin Sands wave buoy3.0 ft · 4 sLive · 32 km
- Rye Bay wave buoy1.6 ft · 2.6 sLive · 33 km
- Hastings WaveNet Site2.6 ft · 6.9 sLive · 44 km
- Sandettie Lightship5.6 ftStale · 47 km
- Pevensey Bay wave buoy1.0 ft · 8.3 sLive · 59 km
- F3 Light Vessel4.9 ftLive · 64 km
Other readings
- Water temperature
- 56°F (13.3°C)
Reported Nov 13, 5:00 AM GMT.
How to read this buoy
Over the readings shown here, most wave energy reached this buoy from the E.
Biggest hourly reading in that record: 2.1 ft at 3.6 s on Nov 11.
- Station id
- 6201017
- Operator
- Channel Coastal Observatory; National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes (NNRCMP)
- Program
- Copernicus Marine In Situ
- Position
- 51.063°N, 1.128°E
- Type
- Moored buoy
- 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 Channel Coastal Observatory; National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes (NNRCMP). 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.
