Significant wave height and mean direction
Base Time: Thu 01 Oct 2026 06 UTC T+24 Valid time: Fri 02 Oct 2026 06 UTC (T+24)
At any location over the oceans, a wave field is fully characterised by its 2-dimensional wave spectrum which describes how much wave energy is present for given frequencies and propagation directions. This comprehensive representation is simplified in a set of integrated parameters:
The significant wave height is defined as 4 times the square root of the integral over frequency and direction of the wave spectrum.
The mean wave direction is the spectrally averaged propagation direction of the waves.
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