Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Douglas scale
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Quick Facts
Related Topics:
wave
oceanography
See all related content
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

Douglas scale

oceanography
Also known as: Douglas sea and swell scale
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Douglas scale, either of two arbitrary series of numbers from 0 to 9, used separately or in combination to define qualitatively the degree to which the ocean surface is disturbed by fresh waves (sea) generated by local winds, and by decaying waves, or swell, propagated from their distant wind sources. The scales were devised in 1921 by the British Navy captain H.P. Douglas and were adopted by the International Meteorological Conference in Copenhagen in 1929.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.