what is the average ocean wave size?

Question

how many feet is the average wave size on a calm day?

Answer 1

It depends on where you are, how deep the water is, and how close to the shore you are.
I recently went on a trip and one of the labs we did involved measuring the waves at different distances from shore(5-20m).
We got an average of .2m close to shore to 1.5m at 20m.
This is the distance from wave peak to wave trough and does not include how deep the water is, so it is in fact wave height only.
That website should help you. Dauphin Island is located south of Mobile Bay, Alabama.
Good Luck!

Also, if you are going for feet, a meter is about the same as a yard, so there are about three feet in a meter.

Answer 2

---How waves are formed and measured---

The great majority of waves one sees on an ocean beach result from distant winds. Three factors influence the formation of "wind waves":

-Wind speed
-Length of time the wind has blown over a given area
-Distance of open water that the wind has blown over; called fetch

All of these factors work together to determine the size and shape of ocean waves. The greater each of the variables, the larger the waves. Waves are measured by:

-Height (from trough to crest)
-Length (from crest to crest)
-Steepness, or slope (either the angle between crest and trough, or the "steepness ratio," of the wave's height to its length)
-Period (length of time between crests)

There are theoretical limitations, however, for each variable. The smaller the fetch, the smaller the largest wave can be for a given wind speed, regardless of how long the wind blows.

Both in theory and in reality, waves are never created in one uniform height. They fall into a systemic pattern of varying size. For weather reporting and for scientific analysis of wave behavior, their size over a period of time is usually expressed as "significant wave height." This figure represents the average of the highest one-third of the waves in a given time period (usually twelve hours) or in a specific wave or storm system. Given the variability of wave size, it might be expected that individual waves are likely to be twice the reported significant wave height for a particular day or storm.