Australian Government 
Bureau of Meteorology

Large Swells Impact Southeastern Australia

7 - 11 July 2011

Surface Wind & Direction:

An intense low pressure system directed winds exceeding 100km/h towards Southeastern Australia for several days in early July 2011.

Images were captured using the Bureau of Meteorology’s Australian Community Climate Earth-System Simulator (ACCESS) forecasting system.

[Arrows indicate wind moving from the Southern Ocean in a northeasterly direction towards southeastern Australia. Red and purple tones indicate high intensity winds. ]

Significant Wave Height & Direction:
  
Strong winds influenced massive waves over 10 metres in height along Victorian and Tasmanian coastal areas.

Extreme wave heights are indicated by purple tones.

Images were captured using the Bureau of Meteorology’s AUSWAVE forecasting system.

[Arrows indicate waves moving from the Southern Ocean in a northeasterly direction towards southeastern Australia. Red and purple tones indicate extreme wave heights.]

Sea Level & Currents:

Waves were able to break closer to the shoreline due to the higher than normal tides.

Images were captured using the Bureau of Meteorology’s OceanMAPs forecasting system.

[Long arrows represent ocean currents. Red tones indicate unusually high sea levels – dark red tones indicate higher sea levels. Higher sea level are located along Victorian and Tasmanian coastlines.]

Summary:

Southeastern Australia was severely impacted by strong winds and large swells that caused:

* $150 million dollars of damage along the Victorian coastline.

* Closure of Victoria’s seaport of Portland for the first time in 10 years.

* Waves washing into Port Arthur heritage sites in Tasmania.

Have a look at our article on the recent swells activity

http://www.bom.gov.au/social/2011/08/large-swells-impact-Australia/

Additional information can be found on our Marine Weather Services page http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/