Morecambe Bay gas fields lies in the Irish Sea at 53.90° N, 3.62° W. Significant wave height there exceeds 2 m about 10% of the time across the whole year, roughly 3 days a month on average. The roughest month is January, with a mean significant wave height of 1.4 m and seas above 2 m about 23% of the time; the calmest is May, with a mean of 0.7 m and about 2.6% of the time above 2 m. Waves above 4 m occur about 0.3% of the time.
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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.
| Month | Mean Hs (m) | % above 1 m | % above 1.5 m | % above 2 m | % above 2.5 m | % above 3 m | % above 4 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1.4 | 61% | 40% | 23% | 13% | 6.0% | 0.9% |
| February | 1.3 | 56% | 33% | 19% | 10% | 4.8% | 0.8% |
| March | 1.1 | 45% | 25% | 13% | 5.0% | 1.8% | 0.2% |
| April | 0.8 | 29% | 11% | 3.4% | 0.9% | 0.2% | <0.1% |
| May | 0.7 | 24% | 9.1% | 2.6% | 0.8% | 0.2% | <0.1% |
| June | 0.7 | 23% | 7.2% | 1.7% | 0.6% | 0.1% | <0.1% |
| July | 0.7 | 23% | 5.7% | 1.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | <0.1% |
| August | 0.8 | 29% | 11% | 2.5% | 0.5% | 0.1% | <0.1% |
| September | 0.9 | 38% | 17% | 6.5% | 2.2% | 0.6% | <0.1% |
| October | 1.2 | 53% | 29% | 14% | 5.7% | 2.2% | 0.2% |
| November | 1.3 | 58% | 34% | 17% | 7.5% | 2.8% | 0.3% |
| December | 1.4 | 59% | 38% | 22% | 12% | 5.0% | 0.7% |
| Year | 1.0 | 41% | 22% | 10% | 4.8% | 2.0% | 0.3% |
Wind at 10 m across the year: typically 7.6 m/s (15 kn), top 10% above 12.7 m/s (25 kn). Monthly means run from 6.1 m/s in June to 9.2 m/s in January.
Weather windows: a typical month fits about 26 separate 24 h periods with significant wave height below 2 m, fewest in January (about 21). Periods do not overlap, so a 30 day month holds at most 30.
Nearest mapped asset to the data point: North Morecambe, oil and gas field, about 29 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: WAVERYS wave reanalysis (Copernicus Marine) + ERA5 wind, 1980-2023, 3 hourly. Data point 54.00° N, 3.60° W (0.2° grid), 11 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.
Thrust Maritime, Sea State Explorer, Morecambe Bay gas fields, WAVERYS wave reanalysis (Copernicus Marine) + ERA5 wind 1980-2023, 3 hourly, page built 2026-10-23, accessed [date], https://seastate.thrustm.com/locations/morecambe-bay.html
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