Goodwin Sands wave buoy
United Kingdom
Last wave reading:
Now at the buoy
Significant wave height at the buoy
2.0 ft
0.6 m
- Dominant period
- 7.7 s
- Direction
- from SE 125°
This station does not send a swell and wind-wave split, so the numbers are for the whole sea.
Short-period swell: 2.0 ft at 7.7 s from the SE. Fading over the last 6 hours, down 1.6 ft.
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 21% high against the buoy.
| Day | Height | Peak period | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 13 | 3.2 ft | 5.4 s | N |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 2.2 ft | 3.5 s | ESE |
| Sun, Nov 15 | 5.7 ft | 5.7 s | SSW |
| Mon, Nov 16 | 3.6 ft | 4 s | W |
| Tue, Nov 17 | 5.6 ft | 5.4 s | E |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 5.1 ft | 5.7 s | NE |
| Thu, Nov 19 | 2.0 ft | 6.4 s | SSW |
ECMWF WAM wave model via Open-Meteo, nearest model cell (51.250°N, 1.500°E). Both lines are significant wave height at sea, the same measure the buoy reports. Model output, not a Quiver beach forecast.
Nearby buoys
- Sandettie Lightship5.6 ftStale · 28 km
- Folkestone wave buoy1.0 ft · 7.7 sLive · 32 km
- F3 Light Vessel3.9 ftLive · 36 km
- South Knock WaveNet Site2.9 ft · 7.4 sLive · 36 km
- Rye Bay wave buoy1.7 ft · 2.3 sLive · 66 km
- Westhinder Buoy6.1 ftLive · 68 km
Other readings
- Water temperature
- 55°F (12.8°C)
Reported Nov 13, 6:30 AM GMT.
How to read this buoy
Over the readings shown here, most wave energy reached this buoy from the NE and N.
Biggest hourly reading in that record: 4.3 ft at 5.9 s on Nov 12.
- Station id
- 6201018
- Operator
- Channel Coastal Observatory; National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes (NNRCMP)
- Program
- Copernicus Marine In Situ
- Position
- 51.250°N, 1.483°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.
