Forums > General Discussion   Shooting the breeze...

NSW - MHL wave rider buoys

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Created by makesurf > 9 months ago, 2 Mar 2017
makesurf
NSW, 248 posts
2 Mar 2017 11:02AM
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MHL Wave Rose data
If you live in NSW and don't know what the wave rose data is there is an explanation here:
new.mhl.nsw.gov.au/data/realtime/wave/

It is 11am as I am writing this and all the MHL wave rider buoys show what they recorded 3 hours ago.
ssurfings.blogspot.com/p/nsw-coast-waverider-buoys.html

What is the story, the lag has varied greatly over the last two or three months?

I seem to remember that the feed was a direct live feed.
What is happening these days? Are they trying to moderate it to make sure that it is accurate?

AND if anyone has more information on this it would be welcome.
**Wave Rose Update**
Wave Rose results found to be representative for most conditions presented, however, some unresolved issues remain. Please use with CAUTION until further notice.
Parametric wave data shown in graphs below are not affected by this error.
2016-04-28 15:09:10
**------------------**

Oh well, at least all the buoys are currently operational.

Towny
NSW, 903 posts
2 Mar 2017 8:20PM
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I been looking at them
for years and there is always one bouy having issues.

makesurf
NSW, 248 posts
3 Mar 2017 9:45AM
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Select to expand quote
Towny said..
.. there is always one buoy having issues.


Yes, it is tough keeping these things in place in heavy seas.
But after all the tiny surf we have had this summer (this time of year I suppose) we should expect them all to be working.

However the time now is 9:45am and the buoys are showing readings for:
Byron Bay - Yesterday 10pm
Coffs Harbour - Yesterday 10pm
Crowdy Head - Yesterday 10pm
Sydney - Yesterday 4pm
Port Kembla - Today 7am
Batemans Bay - Yesterday 10pm
Eden - Yesterday 10pm

Good luck for Port Kembla and tough for Sydney.
MY QUESTION:
Why is there a delay AT ALL?

Towny
NSW, 903 posts
3 Mar 2017 8:46PM
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What was MHL's response ?

bmod
NSW, 17 posts
5 Mar 2017 9:06PM
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I worked there until recently, and the buoys are notoriously difficult to manage. They are often run over by ships, or break the complex mooring arrangement that allows them to move with the wave. Radio signals suffer from unlicenced tranmitters, so there are often problems with telemetry.

There is a 'lag' in the transmission simply due to naming convention: the 12pm record covers the analysis period 12:00-12:34, so it already seems an hour behind.

Other lags are systemic and are closer to the primary purpose of the buoys - to create a long term record of wave data. So the data is sent from buoy to local station to MHL to database to the web. This also allows some automatic data checks before going online. Each step has some delay - keep in mind that ~1000 datasets are streaming into that database and then online.

Like many gov departments, there is a constant pressure to ... lets call it 'be more efficient'. Many years its a fight just to keep funding 7 buoys. If you want it to improve, or even just keep what you have, get vocal.

makesurf
NSW, 248 posts
6 Mar 2017 6:31AM
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>>If you want it to improve, or even just keep what you have, get vocal.

Do you have suggestions on how to do that?

I have noted that realsurf.com and coastalwatch do not have the correct links to MHL.
Seabreeze have NO links that I know of.
I would like to see Seabreeze have forecast wave height alongside the actual (MHL) with current time in the middle.

makesurf
NSW, 248 posts
8 Mar 2017 7:43AM
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new.mhl.nsw.gov.au/data/realtime/wave/Buoy-syddow
The Sydney buoy looking good today.
"realtime" in that URL is ironic.
It is 8am and the rose says 5am.

makesurf
NSW, 248 posts
9 Aug 2017 2:22PM
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makesurf said..
Seabreeze have NO links that I know of.
I would like to see Seabreeze have forecast wave height alongside the actual (MHL) with current time in the middle.



OR take the raw data and feed it into main graphic in the same way that they show the forecast
Here is what it would look like at the moment (the red line).


...Has MHL given up on Directional Spectra?
ssurfings.blogspot.com/p/nsw-coast-waverider-buoys.html

Only Eden has a date later than 1 August.
Note that the (hard to read) graphs below the circles appear to still be recording....



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"NSW - MHL wave rider buoys" started by makesurf