Wave data reported on the homepage of this site are formatted like the table below.

Hgt.	Per.	Dir.
2.3 (ft.)	4.3 (sec.)

Wave Height (Hgt.)

   Wave height describes the vertical distance from the wave trough to the wave crest. Since waves are constantly changing, a statistical measure is applied to describe the wave field over 30 minutes. Values reported for wave height here are the average of the top 10% of measured wave heights (H_1/10). Thus, reported table values are intentionally biased towards the largest measured waves.

   Significant wave height is another common statistical value applied to describe wave height. Significant wave height is the average of the top 33% of measured wave heights (H_1/10).

Wave Period (Per.)

   Wave period is the average time between wave crests in seconds.

Wave Direction (Dir.)

   Wave direction is the direction waves are coming from or the upwave direction.