Perranporth wave buoy
United Kingdom
Last wave reading:
Now at the buoy
Significant wave height at the buoy
2.2 ft
0.7 m
- Dominant period
- 6.3 s
- Direction
- from NNW 338°
This station does not send a swell and wind-wave split, so the numbers are for the whole sea.
Short-period wind chop: 2.2 ft at 6.3 s from the NNW. 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 52% high against the buoy.
| Day | Height | Peak period | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 13 | 2.4 ft | 6 s | NNW |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 3.3 ft | 5 s | SSW |
| Sun, Nov 15 | 8.9 ft | 7.7 s | W |
| Mon, Nov 16 | 7.6 ft | 9.6 s | WNW |
| Tue, Nov 17 | 11.5 ft | 9.9 s | W |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 15.4 ft | 15 s | W |
| Thu, Nov 19 | 17.5 ft | 15 s | W |
ECMWF WAM wave model via Open-Meteo, nearest model cell (50.500°N, 5.250°W). Both lines are significant wave height at sea, the same measure the buoy reports. Model output, not a Quiver beach forecast.
Nearby buoys
- Porthleven wave buoy1.4 ft · 9.1 sLive · 34 km
- Penzance wave buoy1.2 ft · 7.1 sLive · 35 km
- Looe Bay wave buoy1.7 ft · 10 sLive · 54 km
- Sevenstones Lightship3.3 ftStale · 71 km
- St Marys Sound wave buoy3.7 ft · 7.1 sLive · 96 km
- Bideford Bay wave buoy0.8 ft · 5.6 sLive · 101 km
Other readings
- Water temperature
- 56°F (13.5°C)
Reported Nov 13, 7:00 AM GMT.
How to read this buoy
Over the readings shown here, most wave energy reached this buoy from the W and NW.
Biggest hourly reading in that record: 5.1 ft at 6.7 s on Nov 12.
- Station id
- 6201001
- Operator
- South West Coastal Monitoring; National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes (NNRCMP)
- Program
- Copernicus Marine In Situ
- Position
- 50.353°N, 5.175°W
- 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 South West Coastal Monitoring; 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.
