Newhaven Wind and Wave Chart for next 36 hours
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Full info for Marine weather for Lewes
Full info for Marine weather for Newhaven
Newhaven forecast rain chart
Full info for Marine weather for Lewes
In oceanography, the Hsig is defined traditionally as the mean wave height (trough to crest) of the highest third of the waves. But once you do that, you start to tease out the statistics of waves of varying heights arriving – and if you are a mariner out upon God’s Great Sea, this can be of intense interest…
Now this can get pretty intense, mathematically, but if you focus on the message and not on the technology, you’ll get all the information you need. Generally, the statistical distribution of the individual wave heights is well approximated by a “Rayleigh Distribution.”
For example, given that Hsig = 1 meter, or 3.3 feet, statistically:
One in 10 waves will be larger than 1.2 m (3.6 ft)
One in 100 will be larger than 1.5 m (5.1 ft)
One in 1,000 will be larger than 1.9 m (6.2 ft)
This implies that one might encounter a wave that is roughly double the significant wave height. And remember what Hsig is – an expression of the highest 1/3rd of the waves. This means that 2/3rd are less than that. Perhaps lulling the mariner into a false sense of security?
Converting that distribution into time at sea, where a wave passes your 25-foot vessel every six seconds, the table would look like this:
One wave every minute will be larger than 1.2 m (3.6 ft)
One every 10 minutes will be larger than 1.5 m (5.1 ft)
One in 100 minutes (1.7 hours) will be larger than 1.9 m (6.2 ft)
And this is when 2/3rd of the waves are less than ~3 feet.
And, statistically, when two significant waves come into “phase,” it is possible to encounter a wave that is much larger than the significant wave.
Now this can get pretty intense, mathematically, but if you focus on the message and not on the technology, you’ll get all the information you need. Generally, the statistical distribution of the individual wave heights is well approximated by a “Rayleigh Distribution.”
For example, given that Hsig = 1 meter, or 3.3 feet, statistically:
One in 10 waves will be larger than 1.2 m (3.6 ft)
One in 100 will be larger than 1.5 m (5.1 ft)
One in 1,000 will be larger than 1.9 m (6.2 ft)
This implies that one might encounter a wave that is roughly double the significant wave height. And remember what Hsig is – an expression of the highest 1/3rd of the waves. This means that 2/3rd are less than that. Perhaps lulling the mariner into a false sense of security?
Converting that distribution into time at sea, where a wave passes your 25-foot vessel every six seconds, the table would look like this:
One wave every minute will be larger than 1.2 m (3.6 ft)
One every 10 minutes will be larger than 1.5 m (5.1 ft)
One in 100 minutes (1.7 hours) will be larger than 1.9 m (6.2 ft)
And this is when 2/3rd of the waves are less than ~3 feet.
And, statistically, when two significant waves come into “phase,” it is possible to encounter a wave that is much larger than the significant wave.