Waves, Tides and Weather

Our live coastal wave, tide and weather data is collected continuously 24/7,  and is broadcast back to the National Coastal Monitoring website, where it can be viewed in real-time along with other hydro data from different regions of the UK.

This data is extremely important for supporting flood and coastal defence management and, additionally, is used by recreational users such as fishermen, surfers and sailors.

Each of these data types are collected at multiple sites across the South West.

The best way to view these is via our map viewer.

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Directional Wave Rider, Porthleven

Wave Data

Since 2006, we have installed a network of 13 Directional WaveRider Mk III buoys at strategic locations around the South West. They are situated in ~10-12 m water depth (Chart Datum) and record:

  • Wave Height (m)
  • Max Wave Height (m)
  • Period (s)
  • Peak direction (°)
  • Spread (degrees)
  • Energy Period (s)
  • Power (kW/m) and
  • Sea Temperature (°C).

A full range of 34 parameters are provided in the 'allwaveparameters' files available from the Advanced Download tab on the real-time data page of each wave buoy, their definition and description.

Custom wave alerts can be set up for any wave buoy, to warn if wave parameters exceed a certain threshold.

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Tidal Data

Four tide gauges have been installed across the South West since 2006, two WaveRadar gauges, one step gauge and one pressure transducer. Each tide gauge measures observed tidal data in reference to Chart Datum against predicted tidal data.

Week long tidal predictions for both high and low tide times are available for each tide gauge under the Tides tab on the National Coastal Monitoring website.

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WaveRadar REX, Severn Bridge

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Meteorological Station, Weston Bay.

Meteorological Data

Our Programme has a network of 9 Met Stations across the South West, either Vaisala WXT536 or Gill Maximet GMX600 instruments. Each of these weather stations measure:

 

  • Air Pressure (mb)
  • Wind Speed (knots and ms-1)
  • Gust Speed (knots and ms-1)
  • Wind Direction (°)
  • Air Temperature (°C)
  • Rainfall (mm) and
  • Relative Humidity (%).
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Significant wave height (m) rose chart for Perranporth DWR, between 01/12/2006 to 30/04/2023.

Data Outputs

Accurate estimates of the wave climate are an essential prerequisite for coastal engineering, yet there was previously a lack of long-term wave data from around the UK coastline.

The UK Met Office buoys and, more recently, WaveNet buoys are valuable, but are too few in number and too far offshore to be of operational use to coastal engineers in the South West.

Our coastal wave buoy network provides directional wave information in the nearshore region to address this requirement.

Tidal data is needed to provide estimates of extreme water level conditions for guidance when determining flood defences. A prime objective of our network of tide gauges is to provide water levels for coastal flood warnings.

This need is fulfilled by the real-time measurements displayed on the website and a facility for sending alerts warning of high tide levels and/or high waves.

The long term data sets our Programme collects are used to develop local wave climates, extreme event analysis, including individual storm events and validation of numerical models.

Let's Keep In Touch

We’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest news on this website, but we’d also love to be able to send the occasional update.

We promise we'll only use your details to tell you about what we’ve been doing.

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