Beaufort 3.: Wave height 0 decimal 6 meters. - state of the sea: Large wavelets. Here,
crests begin to break. There are Foam of glassy appearance. Perhaps scattered
white horses.
Beaufort 4.: Wave height 1 meter. - State of the sea: Small waves, becoming larger; fairly frequent white horses.
Beaufort 5: Wave height 2 meters. - State of the sea: Moderate waves, taking a more pronounced long form; many white horses are formed. Chance of some spray.
Beaufort 6: Wave height 3 meters. - State of the sea: Large waves begin to form; the white foam crests are more extensive everywhere. Probably some spray.
Beaufort 7: Wave height 4 meters. - Sea state: The Sea heaps up and white foam from breaking waves begins to be blown in streaks along the direction of the wind.
Beaufort 8: Wave height: 5 decimal 5 meters. - Sea state: Moderately high waves of greater
length; edges of crests begin to break into spin drift. The foam is blown in
well-marked streaks along the direction of the wind.
Beaufort 9: Wave height 7 meters. - Sea state: High waves. Dense streaks of foam
along the direction of the wind. Crests of waves begin to topple, tumble, and
rollover. The spray may affect visibility.
Beaufort 10: Wave height 9 meters. - Sea state: Very high waves with long
over-hanging crests. The resulting foam, in great patches, is blown in dense
white streaks along the direction of the wind. On the whole, the surface of the
sea takes on a white appearance. The ‘tumbling’ of the sea becomes heavy and shock-like.
Visibility affected.
Beaufort 11: Wave height 11 decimal five. Sea state: Exceptionally high waves (small and medium-sized ships might be for a time lost to view behind the waves). The sea is completely covered with long white patches of foam lying along the direction of the wind. Everywhere the edges of the wave crests are blown into froth. Visibility affected.
Beaufort 12: Wave height more than 14 meters. Sea state: The
air is filled with foam and spray. Sea is completely white with driving spray;
visibility is very seriously affected.
Puedes practicar para afianzar tu dominio sobre el tema con la siguiente ACTIVIDAD.
Como puedes ver, dada la complejidad de las variables involucradas, se pueden utilizan escalas más simples para descripciones rápidas y concisas de las condiciones del mar. Así, la Organización Meteorológica Mundial, (OMM), utiliza un código de estado del mar derivado de la Escala del Mar de Douglas para facilitar la identificación del estado del mar. A continuación se ofrece un resumen rápido del Código de estados del mar de la OMM: