Storm Domingos sets an absolute record for significant wave height measured in Puertos del Estado buoy networks
The Estaca de Bares buoy, located about 20 miles off the coast, recorded a significant wave height of 13.95m on Saturday, November 4.
7-11-2023 (Public Body Puertos del Estado). Storm Domingos, which battered the Galician and Cantabrian coasts last weekend, has set an absolute record for significant wave height measured in the Puertos del Estado buoy networks.
The Estaca de Bares buoy, belonging to the Outer Network and operational since 1996, recorded a significant wave height of 13.95m on Saturday, November 4, at 10 p.m. This represents the highest height recorded since Puertos del Estado's measurement networks began operating, surpassing the 13.72m recorded at the Bilbao Vizcaya buoy during the passage of the extratropical cyclone Klaus in 2009.
The rest of the operational buoys in the area obtained high records during the passage of the three almost consecutive storms in recent days (Celine, Ciarán, and Domingos), but without reaching record levels.
Significant wave height represents the average value of the highest third of waves recorded over a half-hour period, unlike the maximum wave height, which is limited to the measurement of a single wave. Therefore, it is a statistical parameter of great utility to describe the intensity of the waves at the buoy's position and, therefore, more definitive of the severity of the storm.
The Estaca de Bares buoy does not have the capacity to transmit the maximum wave height parameter in real-time, so we will have to wait to download the on-board data to know the corresponding records for that parameter during the storm. Maximum wave height values recorded in the Cabo Silleiro buoy are available, which recorded 16.47m on November 5 at 4 a.m., and in the Langosteira buoy, which recorded 15.89m on November 4 at 7 p.m. These are very high figures in both cases, but they have not set record values.
PUERTOS DEL ESTADO MEASUREMENT NETWORKS
Puertos del Estado has an Outer Buoy Network (or deep-water buoys) composed of 15 measurement positions, a Coastal Buoy Network with 12 measurement positions, a network of 41 Tide Gauges along the entire Spanish coast, and a High-Frequency Radar network with 9 stations. All information is received in real-time at Puertos del Estado, which is responsible for its management and data distribution (http://portus.puertos.es/Portus_RT/?locale=en).
Puertos del Estado obtains wave records on our coasts through the two buoy networks, the Coastal Network, and the Outer Network. The buoys of the Outer Network are characterized by being anchored far from the coastline at great depths, between 200 and 1,800 meters, and usually have a large size, up to 3 meters in diameter and 7 meters in length, with satellite transmission. Coastal Network buoys are located near ports, at less than 100 meters depth, and transmit measurements to the coast via radio and GPRS.