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WAVE AND CURRENT DATA, MONTEREY BAY

[Monterey Bay Map with Hs]

Wave spectra and related statistics are estimated hourly at 326 sites along Monterey Bay with a refractive spectral propagation model created and run by the Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP) at UC San Diego. The alongshore range presented here runs from Monterey in the south to Santa Cruz in the north of the Monterey Bay coastline. Significant wave height Hs, peak period Tp, and wave approach angle alpha are computed at the breaking depth from model-predicted 15m contour values. They are are plotted here at 326 locations along the coastline, with colors depicting their ranges as indicated by the colorbar. Approach angle alpha will be positive when waves are coming from the "right" and negative when waves are coming from the "left", if one is looking directly offshore

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) operates and maintains four nearshore video camera sites along the coastline, using rectified images to estimate the locations and migration of sand bars and rip channels. The camera towers are located at Monterey, Sand City, Stilwell Hall (on the former Fort Ord), and Marina, as depicted on the map at left. At all but the Stilwell site, NPS has also deployed acoustic doppler current profilers (ADCPs), each of which continuously records wave and current data from approximately 13 meters depth. In addition, preliminary plots are now available from a radar that was installed at the Sand City site in the spring of 2007.

The links below provide access to plots of the most recent wave statistics, 1D and 2D spectra, and historic data as predicted by the CDIP model and as recorded in-situ by the video cameras and ADCPs, as well as initial results from the Sand City radar and the comprehensive 2007 RCEX experiment.

 

 

Last Reviewed: September 2007
orzech@nps.edu
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Material contained herein is made available for the purpose of peer review and discussion and does not necessarily reflect the the views of the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense.