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A man standing next to large ocean waves at Porto Covo, Portugal Video of large waves from Hurricane Marie along the coast of Newport Beach, California. 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.
Wind-wave dissipation or "swell dissipation" is process in which a wave generated via a weather system loses its mechanical energy transferred from the atmosphere via wind. Wind waves, as their name suggests, are generated by wind transferring energy from the atmosphere to the ocean's surface, capillary gravity waves play an essential role in ...
Wind waves are generated by wind. Other kinds of disturbances such as seismic events, can also cause gravity waves, but they are not wind waves, and do not generally result in swell. The generation of wind waves is initiated by the disturbances of the crosswind field on the surface of the water.
Wind waves also play an important role themselves in the interaction processes between the ocean and the atmosphere. Wind waves in the ocean can travel thousands of kilometers. A proper description of the physical mechanisms that cause the growth of wind waves and is in accordance with observations has yet to be completed. A necessary condition ...
The Miles-Phillips mechanism is a physical interpretation of these wind-generated surface waves. Both mechanisms are applied to gravity-capillary waves and have in common that waves are generated by a resonance phenomenon. The Miles mechanism is based on the hypothesis that waves arise as an instability of the sea-atmosphere system. [1]
The effect of waves, while directly powered by the wind, is distinct from a storm's wind-powered currents. Powerful wind whips up large, strong waves in the direction of its movement. [4] Although these surface waves are responsible for very little water transport in open water, they may be responsible for significant transport near the shore.
A rip current forms because wind and breaking waves push surface water towards the land. This causes a slight rise in the water level along the shore. This excess water will tend to flow back to the open water via the route of least resistance.
Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC). Waves are generated primarily by wind passing over the sea's surface and also by tidal forces, temperature variations, and other factors.