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In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result of the wind blowing over the water's surface. The contact distance in the direction of the wind is known as the fetch. Waves in the oceans can travel thousands of kilometers before reaching land.
Examples include: sunrise, weather, ... Oceanographic phenomena include tsunamis, ocean currents and breaking waves. Gallery. Tsunami by Hokusai 19th century.
Breaking swell waves at Hermosa Beach, California. A swell, also sometimes referred to as ground swell, in the context of an ocean, sea or lake, is a series of mechanical waves that propagate along the interface between water and air under the predominating influence of gravity, and thus are often referred to as surface gravity waves.
In oceanography wind fetch, also known as fetch length or simply fetch, is the length of water over which a given wind has blown without obstruction. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Fetch is used in geography and meteorology and its effects are usually associated with sea state and when it reaches shore it is the main factor that creates storm surge which leads to ...
Ocean stratification is the natural separation of an ocean's water into horizontal layers by density.This is generally stable stratification, because warm water floats on top of cold water, and heating is mostly from the sun, which reinforces that arrangement.
The clumps of floating algae are often concentrated by the strong winds and wave action associated with the Gulf Stream. In physical oceanography, Langmuir circulation consists of a series of shallow, slow, counter-rotating vortices at the ocean's surface aligned with the wind. These circulations are developed when wind blows steadily over the ...
In fluid dynamics, wind wave modeling describes the effort to depict the sea state and predict the evolution of the energy of wind waves using numerical techniques.These simulations consider atmospheric wind forcing, nonlinear wave interactions, and frictional dissipation, and they output statistics describing wave heights, periods, and propagation directions for regional seas or global oceans.
Examples include upwellings around the Galapagos Islands and the Seychelles Islands, which have major pelagic fisheries. [4] Upwelling could occur anywhere as long as there is an adequate shear in the horizontal wind field. For example when a tropical cyclone transits an area, usually when moving at speeds of less than 5 mph (8 km/h). The ...