See also: Storm surge Tide TsunamiĪpplies, if a wind blows steadily over a known fetch for a period of time.īecause of viscosity, surface waves lose energy as they propagate, short-period waves being dampened more rapidly than long-period waves.

Like tides, they are ubiquitous in the ocean and continue to travel well beyond their area of generation. Wind-generated waves, having periods from a fraction of a second to tens of seconds, are called wind waves. Wakes are waves resulting from relative motion of the water and a solid body, such as the motion of a ship through the sea or the rapid flow of water around a rock. Earthquakes or other large, sudden movements of the Earth's crust can cause waves, called tsunamis, which typically have periods of less than an hour. Storm surges are individual waves produced by the wind and dropping barometric pressure associated with storms they characteristically last several hours.

They have long periods, usually 12.42 h for the strongest constituent. Tides are ocean waves induced by the varying gravitational influence of the Moon and Sun. Surface gravity waves may be classified according to the nature of the forces producing them.

Download waves under the sea