Skip Navigation Links weather.gov 
NOAA logo-Select to go to the NOAA homepage NDBC Title GraphicClick to go to NDBC home page   Select to go to the NWS homepage
Home About Us Contact Us
 
 
    
    Station List

 Data Access
    Mobile Access
    Interactive Maps
         All Stations
         DART®
    Obs Search
    Ship Obs Report
    BuoyCAMs
    TAO
    DODS
    OceanSITES
    HF Radar
    OSMC
    Dial-A-Buoy
    RSS Feeds Image indicating link to RSS feed access page
    Web Widget
    Web Data Guide
    Maintenance Schedule
    Station Status Report

 Program Info
    TAO
    DART®
    IOOS®

 Publications
    NDBC PEA
    NDBC FONSI
    NDBC DQC Handbook

 Visitor Information
 
USA.gov is the U.S. government's official web portal to all federal, state and local government web resources and services.

Real Time Raw Spectral Wave Information

Date/Time Format (YYYY MM DD hh)

The date/time is of the form, 'YYYY MM DD hh', which represents the year, month, day and hour of the measurement in GMT. GMT is Greenwich Mean Time and is five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. For Daylight Savings Time, the difference is one hour less. In other words, 12 GMT is 7 AM EST (8 AM EDT). For West Coast mariners, Pacific Standard Time = GMT - 8 hours.

Separation Frequency

This is the approximate frequency which separates the long wavelength waves (swell, which typically have been generated at a remote location) and the shorter wavelength waves (wind waves generated locally). This is a gross approximation which attempts to provide a better idea of the sea state and allows the estimation of the "steepness" of the waves.

Spectral Wave Density (Frequency)...

Energy in (meter*meter)/Hz, for each Frequency (typically from 0.03 Hz to 0.40 Hz, but may vary with some stations). Repeats until the end of the recorded spectrum is reached.

For more information on the mathematics behind the measuring of surface water waves, see the waves help section.