Ocean surface wave measurements collected by free-drifting microSWIFT buoys in Hurricane Idalia (2023). Measurements include both bulk parameters (significant wave height, peak wave period, dominant wave direction) and spectral parameters (elevation variance spectral density and normalized directional moments). Buoys were air-deployed in large arrays comprised of microSWIFT, Spotter, and DWSD buoys designed to characterize the ocean surface ahead of, and inside, Hurricane Idalia as the storm approached the Florida Big Bend.
Engineering/Geosciences Collection | MicroSWIFT data
Observation Type(s)
Wave
Date(s) of Collection
2023-08-28 ― 2023-08-31
Data Collectors
; ;
Equipment
microSWIFT buoy
Description:
MicroSWIFT buoy data organized by storm and instrument ID. Files are in netCDF format (.nc) and follow the Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Conventions 1.11 (CF-1.11) and Attribute Convention for Data Discovery 1-3 (ACDD-1.3). Variable attributes describe the standard name, long name, description, units, and coverage content type of each variable. Where applicable, standard names are from the CF Standard Name Table Version 85 (21 May 2024), otherwise this attribute is left empty. Null floating point values are indicated by NaN and null strings are indicated by an empty string. Data for each buoy are organized as single trajectory data indexed by observation time. Each netCDF file is named according to the buoy type and ID as: "hurricane_idalia_microSWIFT{buoy_id}.nc".
File Name
Mission | Spotter buoys
Cite This Data:
Houghton, I., J. Davis, J. Thomson (2025). "Spotter buoys", in NHCI: Hurricane Idalia 2023 - observations. DesignSafe-CI. https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-d2bf-y565
View Data
Event
Hurricane Idalia (2023)
Date(s)
2023-08-28 ― 2023-08-31
Author(s)
; ;
Facility
Sofar Ocean
Date Published
2025-04-15
DOI
10.17603/ds2-d2bf-y565
License
Open Data Commons Attribution
Description:
Ocean surface measurements collected by free-drifting Spotter buoys in Hurricane Idalia (2023). Wave measurements include both bulk parameters (significant wave height, peak wave period, dominant wave direction) and spectral parameters (elevation variance spectral density and normalized directional moments). Sea surface temperature and sea level pressure are included when available. Buoys were air-deployed in large arrays comprised of microSWIFT, Spotter, and DWSD buoys designed to characterize the ocean surface ahead of, and inside, Hurricane Idalia as the storm approached the Florida Big Bend.
Engineering/Geosciences Collection | Spotter data
Observation Type(s)
Wave
Sea Surface Temperature
Sea Level Pressure
Date(s) of Collection
2023-08-28 ― 2023-08-31
Data Collectors
; ;
Equipment
Spotter buoy
Description:
Spotter buoy data organized by storm and instrument ID. Files are in netCDF format (.nc) and follow the Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Conventions 1.11 (CF-1.11) and Attribute Convention for Data Discovery 1-3 (ACDD-1.3). Variable attributes describe the standard name, long name, description, units, and coverage content type of each variable. Where applicable, standard names are from the CF Standard Name Table Version 85 (21 May 2024), otherwise this attribute is left empty. Null floating point values are indicated by NaN and null strings are indicated by an empty string. Data for each buoy are organized as single trajectory data indexed by observation time. Each netCDF file is named according to the buoy type and ID as: "hurricane_idalia_{buoy_id}.nc".
This report provides a graphical overview of 25 free-drifting surface buoys deployed ahead of Hurricane Idalia during August 2023. Visualizations span August 28 to September 1, 2023. Three types of buoys are included: Spotter (Sofar Ocean), DWSD/A-DWSD (Lagrangian Drifter Laboratory), and microSWIFT (UW Applied Physics Lab), all of which report similar payloads. Maps and time series provide an overview of the range of wave conditions observed within Idalia. Where applicable, colocated buoys from the datasets are compared. Data for each buoy type are available within the DesignSafe project for this hurricane.
