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Sea State Explorer

Sea state at Gorgon: wave height exceedance by month

Gorgon lies on the North West Shelf of Australia at 20.38° S, 114.86° E. Significant wave height there exceeds 2 m about 29% of the time across the whole year, roughly 9 days a month on average. The roughest month is July, with a mean significant wave height of 2.0 m and seas above 2 m about 47% of the time; the calmest is March, with a mean of 1.5 m and about 13% of the time above 2 m. Waves above 4 m occur about 0.2% of the time.

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Wave height by month

Mean significant wave height and the percentage of time the significant wave height is above each level, by calendar month. The last row combines the months weighted by their length in days.

MonthMean Hs (m)% above 1 m% above 1.5 m% above 2 m% above 2.5 m% above 3 m% above 4 m
January1.797%61%24%6.7%2.3%0.6%
February1.693%51%17%4.9%2.2%0.7%
March1.589%43%13%4.0%1.6%0.5%
April1.594%47%13%3.2%0.9%0.2%
May1.798%64%25%7.4%1.8%0.1%
June1.999%83%42%13%1.8%<0.1%
July2.0100%86%47%16%3.2%<0.1%
August1.999%81%39%13%3.1%0.1%
September2.099%81%44%15%2.9%<0.1%
October1.998%78%37%9.2%1.7%<0.1%
November1.797%69%24%4.7%0.4%<0.1%
December1.797%64%23%4.4%1.1%0.1%
Year1.897%67%29%8.4%1.9%0.2%

Wind at 10 m across the year: typically 6.1 m/s (12 kn), top 10% above 9.8 m/s (19 kn). Monthly means run from 4.9 m/s in April to 7.0 m/s in November.

Weather windows: a typical month fits about 19 separate 24 h periods with significant wave height below 2 m, fewest in July (about 13). Periods do not overlap, so a 30 day month holds at most 30.

Nearest mapped asset to the data point: Gorgon, oil and gas field, about 296 m water depth, 7 km away. Source: Global Oil & Gas Extraction Tracker, Global Energy Monitor (CC BY 4.0). Positions are indicative unit centroids.

Data basis

Data basis: WAVERYS wave reanalysis (Copernicus Marine) + ERA5 wind, 1980-2023, 3 hourly. Data point 20.40° S, 114.80° E (0.2° grid), 7 km from the named position, 128,568 samples. Values are for the nearest grid cell and are not interpolated.

Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information: WAVERYS global wave reanalysis [1980-2023], 3 hourly significant wave height, peak period and direction. Wind statistics from the ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus C3S) on its 0.5 degree grid (wind, direction rose, diurnal cycle and ENSO split 1980-2024). Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF nor Mercator Ocean is responsible for any use of this information.

How the numbers are made: How it works. Other locations: all location pages.

Cite as

Thrust Maritime, Sea State Explorer, Gorgon, WAVERYS wave reanalysis (Copernicus Marine) + ERA5 wind 1980-2023, 3 hourly, page built 2026-10-23, accessed [date], https://seastate.thrustm.com/locations/gorgon.html

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