WAVES

By: Bridget Pettit & Victor Perez

• Waves are a result of forces acting on the surface of the water.

• GENERATIONG FORCES : is a forces (ie rock or wind) that disturbs the waters surface, this generating force moves outward away from the point of the disturbance.

• The force that causes the water to return to the undisturbed level is called RESTORING FORCE.

• If the amount water that is displaced is small, the restoring force is the surface tension of the water, and the small waves are referred to as CAPILLARY WAVES.

• When the amount of water displaced is quite sizeable, the restoring force is gravity and the waves are referred to as GRAVITY WAVES.

• Generating forces can be any event that adds energy to the surface of the sea

• As the wind blows across the surface of still water, it creates drag (Friction) that lifts some of the water away from the surface.

• If the amount of water displaced is very small, the surface tension of the water pulls it back to restore a smooth surface, and a series of ripples are formed.

• If the force of the air is greater than a small breeze, more friction is created

• As the surface becomes rougher, it becomes easier for the wind to add more energy.

• The frictional drag between the air and the water is increased.

• Ocean waves are generated by wind and restored by wind and restored by gravity, this is called PROGRESSIVE WAVES.

• These type of waves Can be formed by local store centers or by the prevailing wind of the wind belts such as the trade winds or westerlies.

• As wind waves are formed by the storm, they are forced to increase in size and speed by the input

• Of energy from the storm, sometimes known as forced waves.

• PERIOD the time required for one wavelength to pass a fixed point (wave speed = wavelength/period)

• Long wavelengths and long periods = faster movement that short of both.

• Eventually, escape a storm and appear as a regular pattern of wave crests on the ocean’s surface.

• The long period, uniform waves know as swells.• They carry a great amount of energy and manage

to travel for 1000s of kilometers.

• DEEPWATER WAVES= waves that occur in water that is deeper than one half of a wave’s wavelength.

• Height is increased by wind speed, the duration of wind, and the fetch.

• Large waves can be produced only by all three of those factors being at a high production number.

• A deep-water wave become a shallow water wave when it enters shallow water.

• The friction that results from the orbit of the wave dragging the bottom results in the slow end of the wave.

• Speed and length of shallow water waves are determine by the depth of the water.

• SURF ZONE= is the area along a coast where waves slow down, become steeper, break, and disappear.

• BREAKERS= form in the surf zone when the lower part of a wave is slowed by friction with the bottom but its crest continues moving toward the shore at a speed faster than that of the wave.

• The two most common types of breaker are plungers and spillers.

• Plungers form when the beach slope is steep.• End up with a sudden loss of energy and a

splash.• Spillers are more common and usually form on

flat beaches. • Last longer because of the gradual movement

of slowing down.

• TSUNAMIS= sudden movements of the earth’s crust produce earthquakes, which may produce large seismic sea waves.

• A.K.A. Tidal Waves. • End up in destruction and they form because

of the sudden increase from a small ocean depth of the sea floor to a larger depth.