Tarifa coastal buoy
Spain
Last wave reading:
Now at the buoy
Significant wave height at the buoy
3.2 ft
1.0 m
- Dominant period
- 9.2 s
- Direction
- from SSW 200°
This station does not send a swell and wind-wave split, so the numbers are for the whole sea.
Short-period swell: 3.2 ft at 9.2 s from the SSW. 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 10% high against the buoy.
| Day | Height | Peak period | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov 13 | 3.7 ft | 11 s | WSW |
| Sat, Nov 14 | 3.0 ft | 12 s | WSW |
| Sun, Nov 15 | 1.8 ft | 11 s | WSW |
| Mon, Nov 16 | 1.5 ft | 2.6 s | W |
| Tue, Nov 17 | 3.0 ft | 3.7 s | WSW |
| Wed, Nov 18 | 3.5 ft | 4 s | WSW |
| Thu, Nov 19 | 2.3 ft | 3 s | W |
| Fri, Nov 20 | 2.1 ft | 3.3 s | W |
ECMWF WAM wave model via Open-Meteo, nearest model cell (36.000°N, 5.500°W). Both lines are significant wave height at sea, the same measure the buoy reports. Model output, not a Quiver beach forecast.
Nearby buoys
- Algeciras-Pta. Carnero coastal buoy2.4 ft · 10 sLive · 17 km
- Ceuta coastal buoy2.0 ft · 8.2 sLive · 26 km
- Malaga coastal buoy1.3 ft · 4 sLive · 125 km
- Golfo de Cadiz buoy8.9 ft · 13 sLive · 134 km
- Faro coastal buoy7.8 ft · 11 sLive · 229 km
- Melilla coastal buoy0.9 ft · 6.4 sLive · 251 km
Other readings
- Water temperature
- 65°F (18.1°C)
Reported Nov 13, 7:00 AM GMT+1.
How to read this buoy
Over the readings shown here, most wave energy reached this buoy from the SW and S.
Biggest hourly reading in that record: 7.3 ft at 11 s on Nov 12.
- Operator
- Puertos del Estado
- Program
- Copernicus Marine In Situ
- Position
- 36.002°N, 5.592°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.
