So, buoys are up big time (8-10ft @ 14-15secs), and the surf is 3-4-5' - what the ?!#! Well, it looks like today (Wednesday) we may be suffering from CS syndrome. It doesnt' happen often, but when a large swell with long period swells occur on the east coast, the Continental Shelf plays a roll in dissipating the swell offshore. This is most likely the reason its not any bigger today... If you take the same wave heights, periods and aim it towards hawaii you are talking about DOUBLE OH waves easy... This is because around Hawaii, the water is very deep off the coast, so very little disspitation occurs. It will be interesting to see if the surf gets bigger when the swell drops off a bit (and wave periods shorten). I'm going to do some more research on the ocean depths of the east coast offshore regions and see what kind of thresholds we should be looking at. Just a little background for anyone who cares: energy from ocean waves travel down to a depth of 1/2 the wavelength, and wavelength = 1.56 * period * period. So if the period is 14secs, the wavelength is 1.56 * 14 * 14 = 306m So a 14 sec swell reaches down 306 / 2 -> 153m or 501 feet
Your so smart! Hey Dr.Swell, Your education rocks! What would we do with out you...I guess waste a lot of gas. This Frances was a disapointing swell for sure. But for those of you who no where to go...and I mean to find deeper water, the waves were showing-and quite large at that. Still not dub-o-head, but large on the right coast standards! "Hint hint"-get a boat! Hey Dr.Swell, I have to ask you though...do you down play alot of your forecasts? C ya soon, Steve O
Steve O, I was primarily referring to the Wednesday surf, where buoy heights were 8-14ft at 14-15secs along the east coast, and many spots weren't feeling the swell. Certain spots were certainly better than others... Not sure if you are referring to the Wednesday swell or earlier in the week... On the larger swells, the text forecasts can be on the conservative side, but you can always check out the projected "raw data" (swell height, direction, period) yourself, but clicking on the "view details" in the surf plots or just check the swell plots. Boat trip huh? you might have to private message message me on that one
