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A trough is the opposite of a crest, so the minimum or lowest point of the wave. When the crests and troughs of two sine waves of equal amplitude and frequency intersect or collide, while being in phase with each other, the result is called constructive interference and the magnitudes double (above and below the line).
In fluid dynamics and nautical terminology, a breaking wave or breaker is a wave with enough energy to "break" at its peak, reaching a critical level at which linear energy transforms into wave turbulence energy with a distinct forward curve. At this point, simple physical models that describe wave dynamics often become invalid, particularly ...
The wavelength of a sine wave, λ, can be measured between any two points with the same phase, such as between crests (on top), or troughs (on bottom), or corresponding zero crossings as shown. In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.
In physical oceanography, the significant wave height (SWH, HTSGW [3] or H s) is defined traditionally as the mean wave height (trough to crest) of the highest third of the waves (H 1/3). It is usually defined as four times the standard deviation of the surface elevation – or equivalently as four times the square root of the zeroth-order ...
A trough is an elongated area of lower air pressure. Since pressure is closely linked to wind, there are often changes in wind direction across a trough. If a trough forms in the mid-latitudes, a temperature difference at some distance between the two sides of the trough usually exists and the trough might become a weather front at some
After the wave breaks, it becomes a wave of translation and erosion of the ocean bottom intensifies. Cnoidal waves are exact periodic solutions to the Korteweg–de Vries equation in shallow water, that is, when the wavelength of the wave is much greater than the depth of the water.
Significant wave height H 1/3, or H s or H sig, as determined in the time domain, directly from the time series of the surface elevation, is defined as the average height of that one-third of the N measured waves having the greatest heights: [5] / = = where H m represents the individual wave heights, sorted into descending order of height as m increases from 1 to N.
Some of the important wave processes are refraction, diffraction, reflection, wave breaking, wave–current interaction, friction, wave growth due to the wind, and wave shoaling. In the absence of the other effects, wave shoaling is the change of wave height that occurs solely due to changes in mean water depth – without alterations in wave ...