Waiting it out

It's been a very windy and wet few days in the Aleutian Islands, and I can only imagine the bilge pump visible on George's back deck in some of his photos has come in handy in the tent.

The weather is improving (or about to - small craft advisory persists through Wednesday night) somewhat, though of course sea state takes a while longer to lose energy. Here's a shot of that big low pressure system moving east (mbar pressure).

And isocontours of sea state (in meters) following along.

Quick review of "Significant wave height" since there is at least one oceanography class following along. As it says in the top left corner of the diagram, this is an average of the highest third of the waves. Out where the wave heights are big this means the largest third of the waves averages 9,5 meters -- 31 feet -- suggesting maximum wave heights might reach 12,5 to 13 m (43 feet).

Fortunately along the islands where we're focused the significant wave height is 3 m and dropping, suggesting a maximum height of 4 meters (13 feet).

The Puk-Uk has been checking in with the guys from time to time as they ferry scientists and other passangers between Adak and Dutch, once I have an update of course I will post it here.