Surface waves
The map represents a snapshot of surface wave conditions around Australia.
The background wavefield (significant wave height and peak wave direction) is extracted from the analysis timestep t0 of BoM's AUSWAVE-R model. This wavefield is generated at 2-hourly analysis timesteps of the AUSWAVE-R model. The small black arrows represent peak wave direction.Wave observations from various sources centred around t0 are also displayed on the map when available. These observations are:
- Wave measurements from Australia's coastal wave buoy network at t0 +/- 3 hrs, extracted from AODN's near real time feed of the national waverider buoys observations.
- Significant wave height measurements from available radar Altimeters (Jason-3, SARAL, Sentinel-3a, and Sentinel-3b), displayed along satellite nadir tracks at t0 +/- 3 hr. Applied corrections for j3, sa, 3a, and 3b are described here .
- Peak wave direction and mean wave period, extracted from Sentinel-1 A and B Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) wave spectra observations acquired along-track at t0 +/- 3 hr. SAR wave spectra have the wind-sea (or shorter waves) part truncated mostly in along-track direction and can only capture energy from longer swell systems in this direction. Therefore, peak wave direction and mean wave period from SAR should be viewed with the above limitation in mind.
The significant wave height is the average height of the highest third of the waves. Maximum wave heights of twice the significant wave height can be expected about three times in 24 hours.
Legend
Wave buoy: circle near Australian coastline at location of wave buoy displaying measurement in the window t0 +/- 3 hrs. The colour shown inside the circles (colourbar) represents significant wave height (SWH). The wedge in the middle indicates wave direction, with the wave coming from the broad side of wedge. The wedge thickness represents directional spread, and its colour (white, grey, black) represents three regimes of mean wave period in sec (Tz ≤ 8, 8 < Tz ≤ 12, Tz > 12, respectively). An empty circle with a dot in the middle represents absent or suspect data. Data are classed as suspect if SWH is greater than twice the maximum wave height.
Altimeter pass: two parallel lines (along satellite track) with small pink dots in the centre represent satellite altimeter passes in the window t0 +/- 3 hr. The colour within the lines indicates corrected altimeter SWH.
SAR pass: a circle filled with white, grey, or black colour represents SAR mean wave period (Tz) regimes of Tz ≤ 8, 8 < Tz ≤ 12, Tz > 12, respectively. The arrow connected to the circle represents the peak wave direction.
Data sources
- BOM's AUSWAVE analysis 0000 timestep
- Radar Altimeter Database System (RADS)
-
Waverider near real-time buoy observations (Australia). The links to the near real time wave data for the buoys shown in the map are listed in the table below.
Surface waves
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