This page describes the wave roses of selected a few locations, You can use these example to better understand the wave roses shown in the wave climate reoport for your location.
Wave roses are a great tool to better understand where the waves come from. This page describes a few interesting locations.
The wave roses works the same way as wind roses. They show the direction where the waves come from and also how often they come from that direction. In the figures below, the colours shows the height of the waves.
Tarawa is an atoll in Kiribati. It is located right on the equator and can receive waves from many directions. There, you can see swell from the southern Ocean, Trade wind waves, Summer Westerly waves and swell from tropical cyclones and finally swell and trade wind waves generated in the North Pacific.
The wave climate for South of Fiji may seem more simple. Most of the waves that reach the South of Fiji are generated from the South East trade winds or by storms in the Southern Ocean and the Tasman Sea. This is an apparent simplicity, however, wave observations in Fiji can be confusing because there can be many swells occurring at the same time as the trade wind waves .
The atoll of Kwajalein is located North of the equator and is influenced by East to North East trade winds. During winter, the trade winds are stronger but they die out in August/September. During that time, however, the South East trade wind south of the equator are at their strongest and are pushing waves that can travel across the equator and reach the atoll of Kwajalein. Although the August/September South East Trade wind are strong, they cannot blow North of the equator.