Ocean Waves

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Please-Please-Please!

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Waves Outline Part I...

1. Fundamental Principles

Some Definitions

Wave Addition

Wave Propagation of Energy

2. What Determines Wave Speed?

Basic Concept of Shallow-Water and Deep-Water Waves

Wave Speed: dependency on depth versus wavelength

Consequences: wave dispersion and wave refraction

3. Breaking Waves

4. Winter and Summer Beach Profiles

5. Rip Currents

Fundamental Principles

Wave Parameters

1. Wavelength = crest to crest distance (units of length)

2. Wave Speed = distance a wave crest travels per unit time (units of
length/time)

3. Wave Period = time it takes a wave crest to travel one wavelength
(units of time)

4. Wave Frequency = number of crests passing a fixed location per unit
time (units of 1/time)

Two waves can add constructively, destructively or undergo mixed addition

Constructive
Destructive

Mixed

Waves Propagate Energy But Not Mass

What Determines Wave Speed?

Deep-Water Waves versus Shallow-Water Waves

What Determines Wave Speed?

1. Overall Wave Speed Propagation is Function of Both 1) Wavelength and 2) Bottom
Depth

Waves with longer wavelength travel faster than waves with shorter wavelength

Waves traveling in deeper water travel faster than waves traveling in shallower
water

2. Under Certain Exceptional Circumstances only wavelength or only bottom depth
will have the overriding dominate impact on wave speed

In very deep water (deep water waves), small variation in bottom depth has little
impact on overall wave speed and wavelength alone determines wave speed

In very shallow water (shallow water waves), small variation on bottom depth has
a big impact on wave speed and variations in bottom depth alone determines
wave speed.

Wave Speeds
1. Deep-Water Waves (bottom depth is deeper than 1/2 the wavelength)

Speed is a Function of Wavelength Only

Longer Wavelength Waves Move Faster than Shorter Wavelength Waves

2. Shallow-Water Waves (bottom depth is shallower than 1/20 the wavelength)

Speed is a Function of Depth Only

All Waves in Shallower Water Move Slower than They Would for Deeper Water
(as long as all depths < L/2)

3. Intermediate Waves (L/20 < Depth < L/2)

Wave Speed is a Complicated Function of Both Wavelength & Depth.
This situation will not be covered in class

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Deep-Water and Shallow-Water Wave Regions

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Important Consequences of Wave Speed Dependency

on Wavelength or Bottom Depth...

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Wave Dispersion: Self-Sorting of Deep-Water Waves Leaving a Storm Region

based on Wavelength.

It Occurs Because Longer Wavelength Waves Travel Faster than Shorter Wavelength
Waves (for Deep Water).

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Top View

Wave Refraction:

The Bending of Shallow-Water

Wave Fronts Due to Change in
Bottom Depth.
!

The Leading Edge of a Wave

Front Enters Shallower Water
and Slows Down While the
Remaining Front Continues at
Higher Speed. The Net Result
is a Rotation of Wave Fronts To
Become Parallel with Bottom
Depth Contours.

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Consequence of Wave Refraction

Focusing and Defocusing of Wave Energy on Headlands and Bays, Respectively

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Longshore Sediment Transport

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Longshore sediment
transport occurs
when wave strike
the beach at an angle

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Longshore Sediment Transport Obstructed by Jetties and Groins

18

Breaking
Waves

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Summer versus Winter Beach Conditions

The Seasonal Movement of Nearshore Sand

Summer: Gentle waves push

offshore sandbar shoreward
to create wide and gently
sloping sandy summer beach

!
!

Winter: Storm waves drag

sand off the beach to be
stored in offshore sandbar
and frequently resulting in a
rocky winter beach

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Summer
Beach...

http://coastalchange.ucsd.edu/st3_basics/beaches.html

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Winter
Beach...

http://coastalchange.ucsd.edu/st3_basics/beaches.html

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Ripe Currents
1. Initiated when large waves
push water onto an elevated
beach face

2. The beached water is funneled
back off the beach through
narrow breaks in underwater
sand bars to form accelerated
jets of water (rip currents)

3. These jet-like rip currents can
pull a person hundreds of
meters offshore

4. The currents are seldom
wider than about 10 meters

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Question...
If you are caught in a ripe current
and pulled off shore, what is the
best strategy for getting safely
back to shore?

a) swim back exactly the same way you were pulled off shore

b) first swim along the shore for 10 or 20 meters and then swim back to shore
and call me (607-227-2972) to let me know I saved your life!

c) just give up there is no hope!

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Waves Outline Part II...

1. What Determines Wave Height?

height determined by wind speed and
duration and fetch

2. Tsunami Waves

3. Internal Waves

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Wave Height of Wind-Generated Waves is a Function of:

1. Wind Speed

sets the upper possible limit on wave height for a fully

developed sea

2. Duration of the Wind Event

modulates the upper possible limit on wave height

3. Fetch - the distance over which wind can

blow without obstruction
modulates the upper possible limit on wave height

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Wave Height as a Function of Wind Speed

For a Fully Developed Sea (i.e., infinite wind duration & fetch)

Wave Height (meters)

20
15

45 feet

10
5
0

5
10
15
20
Wind Speed (meters sec-1)

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25

60 mph

Fetch in the Open

Ocean is Limited by
the Size of the Storm
System

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Fetch...
1. Once a wave is generated under the center of a storm region it
begins to propagate outward and away from the region.

2. If the spatial extent of the storm region is large (i.e., if the fetch
is large!) then it takes a long time before the wave finally
reaches the outer edge of the storm region where the winds
subside.

3. So in a sense fetch is connected to the duration over which the
wave experiences maximal winds

4. Larger fetch effectively gives the storm more time pump up the
size of a given wave before the wave propagates out from under
the storm center.

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Lateral Spreading of
Wave Energy from a
Storm Source

(95% of Energy Contained Within 45o of Storm Direction)

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Special Waves

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Initiation and
Propagation of a
Tsunami

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Tsunami Wave Generation at

a Convergent Plate Boundary

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Indonesian (Sumatra-Andaman)
Earthquake
December 26, 2004

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Indonesian (Sumatra-Andaman) Earthquake

December 26, 2004

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Indonesian (Sumatra-Andaman) Earthquake

December 26, 2004

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Indonesian (Sumatra-Andaman) Earthquake

December 26, 2004

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Japanese Tsunami, March 11, 2011

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Japanese Earthquake, 11 March 2011

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NOAA's Deep-ocean
Assessment and
Reporting of Tsunami
(DART) Stations

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Buoys of the Tsunami Warning System

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Internal Waves:
Travel along
Density
Discontinuities
in the Ocean
Interior

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