Storm Austen as one wave buoy felt it. The Akkaert-Southwest buoy, a directional waverider off Ostend, reports the sea every 30 minutes. On the morning of 23 October the waves were 1.5 metres, from the southeast. In the early afternoon the cold front passed: at the Westhinder measuring pile the wind swung from southeast to west-northwest in about two hours and rose to 9 Beaufort, with gusts of 27 m/s. In under nine hours the significant wave height went from 1 to 4.3 metres. The highest tenth of the waves averaged 5.5 metres, and the average period doubled from 3.5 to 7 seconds.
Source: Meetnet Vlaamse Banken, Flemish Government, Coastal Division: Akkaert-Southwest wave buoy and Westhinder measuring pile. The sea surface is synthesised from the measured wave statistics
Free for personal and educational use with credit to The Moving Sea. For commercial use, contact [email protected].