Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
The speed of long waves in the ocean is given, to a good approximation, by , where g is the acceleration of gravity and h is the depth of the ocean. [5] [6] [7] For a typical continental shelf with a depth of 100 m, the speed is approximately 30 m/s. So if the tidal period is 12 hours, a quarter wavelength shelf will have a width of about 300 km.
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of seawater generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. [1]
The short, sharp burst of wave energy means that the swash/backwash cycle completes before the arrival of the next wave, leading to a low value of Kemp's phase difference (< 0.5). Surging waves are typical of reflective beach states. On steeper beaches, the energy of the wave can be reflected by the bottom back into the ocean, causing standing ...
Main page; Contents; Current events; Random article; About Wikipedia; Contact us; Pages for logged out editors learn more
The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. [8] In English, the term ocean also refers to any of the large bodies of water into which the world ocean is conventionally divided. [9] The following names describe five different areas of the ocean: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic/Southern, and Arctic.
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.
The time taken for the wave to travel around the ocean also means that there is a delay between the phases of the Moon and their effect on the tide. Springs and neaps in the North Sea , for example, are two days behind the new/full moon and first/third quarter moon.