All wave parameters are taken from the
CDIP spectral file.
Note that unmeasured parameters are left blank in the file, meaning that
all of the columns listed below will not be present in an
individual data file.
Column Descriptions
Column
Description
1
Year (YYYY) UTC
2
Month (MM) UTC
3
Day (DD) UTC
4
Hour (HH) UTC
5
Minute (MM) UTC
6
Hs (m) -
Significant wave height in meters; derived from the
zeroth moment of the reported energy spectrum.
Described as the "average height of the one third highest waves in
the record". The US Army Corps of Engineers, Shore Protection Manual, 3-11,
states that a useful estimate of significant wave height in deep water is defined
as: Hs~4*sigma, where sigma is the standard deviation of the wave record.
Statistically, the maximum wave height in the record is Hmax ~ 9*Hs/5.
7
Tp (s)
* -
Peak period, in seconds; inverse of the frequency with the
highest energy density in the reported spectrum.
8
Dp (deg)
* -
Mean direction from which energy is coming at the peak period, in degrees
clockwise from true North. (For pressure sensors in deep water,
such as at Harvest Platform, we are unable to resolve Dp there when the
peak period is less than .14 hz.)
9
Depth (m) -
Mean sensor depth at the time of the observation in meters; not corrected
for tide. For a pressure sensor, water depth is calculated as
the sample mean.
10
Ta (s) -
Average period, in seconds; derived from the
zeroth moment divided by the first moment of the reported energy spectrum.
11
Pres (mB) -
Atmospheric air pressure in millibars.
12
Wspd (m/s) -
Average wind speed in meters/sec.
13
Wdir (deg) -
Average wind direction, direction wind is coming from, in degrees clockwise from true North
.
14
Temp Air (deg) -
Air temperature in degrees Celsius.
15
Sea Surface Temperature (deg) -
Sea surface temperature in degrees Celsius.
* Note that parameter data
from directional buoys obtained from CDIP before November 17, 2005 may have
Tp and Dp values that differ from those now reported. This is a result
of change in our processing; for more details, please refer to the
change report.
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