The Cape Sorell Waverider Buoy, also named ''Captain Fathom'' by the listeners of
ABC Radio, Tasmania during May 2015 to mark the centenary of the
Bureau of Meteorology
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Government of Australia, Australian Government that is responsible for providing Weather forecasting, weather forecasts and Meteorology, meteorological services to Australia a ...
,
is a
swell-measuring buoy located west of
Cape Sorell
Cape Sorell is a headland located in the Southern Ocean outside Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia. The cape and the Cape Sorell Lighthouse, located above the headland, are important orientation points for all vessels e ...
some west of
Ocean Beach in western Tasmania.
[
It is unique in that it is one of the few wave-riding swell measuring buoys close to land in the region within the ]Roaring Forties
The Roaring Forties are strong westerlies, westerly winds that occur in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40th parallel south, 40° and 50th parallel south, 50° south. The strong eastward air currents are caused by ...
of the Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...
apart from those in New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
.
Originally known as the Strahan Waverider Buoy, it was deployed in January 1998 and had recorded maximum waves of within the first three months of operation. The Strahan buoy was supported by , which provides the moorings, and the Strahan fishing community, which provides the resources to deploy and recover the buoy. Earlier CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications.
CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...
-funded wave-measuring buoys were installed on the area in the period 1985 to 1993, at Cape Sorell, Cape Grim and Storm Bay. The Storm Bay location concluded in December 1993.
The table and graph of the range of the swells is publicly available on the internet. This data is sometimes displayed in the boats that conduct cruises across Macquarie Harbour and up Gordon River
The Gordon River is a major perennial river located in the central highlands, south-west, and western regions of Tasmania, Australia.
Course and features
The Gordon River rises below Mount Hobhouse in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers Nation ...
, as a means of illustrating the strength and intensity of the swells that meet Ocean Beach.
Winter swells range on average from . However it is claimed that the buoy broke its moorings on a swell within the last decade.
The buoy retained its mooring on 21 September 2006 when it reached a peak of , which was claimed to be the highest measured wave in Australian waters. However this measurement has been modified due to the buoy's behaviour at the time, and the height is more likely to have been half that measurement.
On 16 September 2010 the swell measured up to in extreme weather
Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe weather, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weat ...
.[
On 14 May 2011, further high levels were recorded, reaching .
On 10 April 2021, a wave of height of was recorded after powerful south westerly swell reached Tasmania.
Captured research data into the record that includes this buoy is used to look at climate change.]
Notes
External links
Current records of the buoy
Cape Sorell climate history
Surf forecast reports
{{Western Tasmania , state=autocollapse
Cape Sorell