Pe rsistence of significant wave heights. Tables B5 , B9 , B13, 

 B17, and B22 show the number of times throughout the year that 

 the specified wave height was equaled or exceeded at least once 

 during each day of the duration (consecutive days) indicated. 

 For example, for Gage 620, the Waverider located 3 km from shore, 

 wave heights equaled or exceeded 0.5 m 45 times for at least 

 1 day; 39 times for at least 2 days; 30 times for at least 

 3 days; etc. Therefore, on 6 occasions one would expect the 

 height to have equaled or exceeded 0.5 m for 1 day exactly; on 

 9 occasions for 2 days; on 3 occasions, 3 days; etc. Note that 

 the height exceeded 1 m 48 times for 1 day or longer, while 

 heights exceeded 0.5 m only 45 times for this same duration. 

 This occurred because the longer durations of lower waves may 

 be interspersed with shorter, but more frequent, intervals 

 of higher waves. For example, the one time that wave heights 

 exceeded 0.5 m for 29 days may represent 2 or 3 times that the 

 height exceeded 1 m. 



B2 



