Scaled photographs of surf over the full range of breaker sizes on the north shore of Oahu and Jaws, Maui, Hawaiian Islands, 1998-01 to 2004-05 (NCEI Accession 0001753)

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: October 13, 2025 | Last Modified: 2004-10-15T00:00:00.000+00:00

Digital surf photographs were scaled using surfers as height benchmarks to estimate the size of the breakers. Historical databases for surf height in Hawaii are recorded in Hawaii Scale Feet (HSF), and these photographs have been used to translate HSF to trough-to-crest heights. Results show the trough-to-crest heights to be double the HSF within a 10-20% margin of error over the full range of possible breaker sizes. This assumes 1) the trough-to-crest height is defined as the highest height reached in the vertical between the crest and the preceding trough at any point along the wave front during breaking and 2) zones of high refraction on outer reefs are included for extreme days when Waimea Bay was the reporting location.

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0001753 WAVE HEIGHT - BREAKING SURF photograph height of breaking surf physical FIXED STATIONS OF UNITED STATES US National Oceanographic Data Center US National Oceanographic Data Center Coastal Waters of Hawaii Northeast Pacific Ocean (limit-180) oceanography DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NODC > National Oceanographic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN WAVES > WAVE HEIGHT FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS > FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN > HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OCEAN > PACIFIC OCEAN > NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN

Complete Metadata

describedByType	application/octet-steam
identifier	gov.noaa.nodc:0001753
issued	2004-10-15T00:00:00.000+00:00
landingPage	https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact
language	[]
rights	otherRestrictions
spatial	-156.32,20.85,-158.1,21.69
temporal	1998-01-28T00:00:00+00:00/2004-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

Location