Cape Sorell facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cape Sorrell
False colour Landsat image showing Macquarie Harbour with Cape Sorell in the centre right area of the picture.
Location in Tasmania
Location	West Coast, Tasmania, Australia
Coordinates	42°11′24″S 145°09′36″E / 42.19000°S 145.16000°E / -42.19000; 145.16000

Cape Sorell is a headland located in the Southern Ocean outside Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia. The cape and the Cape Sorell Lighthouse, located above the headland, are important orientation points for all vessels entering the Macquarie Heads and then through Hells Gates at the entrance to the harbour.

Cape Sorrell is named in honour of William Sorell, Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania from 1817 to 1824.

It is a regularly cited feature of the west coast of Tasmania - for many systems as an indicator the northernmost point of the region South West Tasmania.

Lighthouse

See Cape Sorell Lighthouse

Macquarie Heads breakwater railway

See Macquarie Heads breakwater railway

Waverider Buoy

The Cape Sorell Waverider Buoy, also known as Captain Fathom as named by the listeners of ABC Radio, Tasmania during the May 2015 to mark the centenary of the Bureau of Meteorology, is a swell-measuring buoy located west of Cape Sorell some 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of Ocean Beach (42°12′S 145°03′E / 42.200°S 145.050°E / -42.200; 145.050). It is unique in that it is one of the few wave-riding swell measuring buoys close to land in the region within the Roaring Forties of the Southern Ocean apart from those in New Zealand.

Originally known as the Strahan Waverider Buoy, it was deployed in January 1998 and had recorded maximum waves of 18 metres (59 ft) within the first three months of operation. The Strahan buoy was supported by CMR which provides the moorings, and the Strahan fishing community which provides the resources to deploy and recover the buoy. Earlier CSIRO- funded wave-measuring buoys were installed on the area in the period 1985 to 1993, utilising the locations of Cape Sorell, Cape Grim and Storm Bay as the locations. The Storm Bay location concluded in December 1993. The table and graph of the range of the swells is readily available on the internet links listed below. This link is sometimes displayed in the boats that conduct cruises across Macquarie Harbour and up Gordon River, as a means of illustrating the strength and intensity of the swells that meet Ocean Beach.

Winter swells range on average from 4 to 10 metres (13 to 33 ft). However it is claimed that the buoy broke its moorings on a 23-metre (75 ft) swell within the last decade. in extreme weather.

Captured research data into the record that includes this buoy is used to look at climate change.