There are three factors wind that determine the size of the wave: 1) the speed of the wind, 2) the distance over which the wind has blown, and 3) the length of time that the wind has blown. The greater each of these factors, the bigger the wave.
Likewise, what factors influence the size of the wave?
Wave height is affected by wind speed, wind duration (or how long the wind blows), and fetch, which is the distance over water that the wind blows in a single direction.
What determines the size of the wave?
The size of a wave depends on: the distance the wind blows (over open water) which is known as the “fetch”, the length of time the wind blows, and. the speed of the wind.
What causes the waves to break?
Onshore winds do the opposite. They accelerate the breaking process. Nevertheless, ocean floor topography will critically decide how wave energy will transform into whitewater. As waves reach the shore, the energy in front of the wave slows down due to friction with the shallow bottom.
What factors affect ocean currents?
Ocean currents can be generated by wind, density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as earthquakes. Currents are cohesive streams of seawater that circulate through the ocean.
What makes the waves in the ocean?
Waves located on the ocean’s surface are commonly caused by wind transferring its energy to the water, and big waves, or swells, can travel over long distances. A wave’s size depends on wind speed, wind duration, and the area over which the wind is blowing (the fetch).
What is a wave of deep water?
Tides and tsunamis are shallow-water waves, even in the deep ocean. The deep ocean is shallow with respect to a wave with a wavelength longer than twice the ocean’s depth.
What is the fetch of a wave?
Fetch, area of ocean or lake surface over which the wind blows in an essentially constant direction, thus generating waves. The term also is used as a synonym for fetch length, which is the horizontal distance over which wave-generating winds blow.
What is the height of the wave called?
As is shown on the figure, wave height is defined as the height of the wave from the wave top, called the wave crest to the bottom of the wave, called the wave trough. The wave length is defined as the horizontal distance between two successive crests or troughs.
How does energy move in a wave?
Waves can transfer energy over distance without moving matter the entire distance. For example, an ocean wave can travel many kilometers without the water itself moving many kilometers. The water moves up and down—a motion known as a disturbance. It is the disturbance that travels in a wave, transferring energy.
What is responsible for deep water currents?
Deep ocean currents are driven by density and temperature gradients. Thermohaline circulation is also known as the ocean’s conveyor belt (which refers to deep ocean density-driven ocean basin currents). These currents, called submarine rivers, flow under the surface of the ocean and are hidden from immediate detection.
What does the Gulf Stream do?
The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and stretches to the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
What factors affect the size of a wave?
Wave height is affected by wind speed, wind duration (or how long the wind blows), and fetch, which is the distance over water that the wind blows in a single direction. If wind speed is slow, only small waves result, regardless of wind duration or fetch.
How do the particles move in a wave?
Wind passes energy to the water, causing waves. After waves break on shore, the water runs down the beach back into the ocean. Waves transport energy, not water. As a wave crest passes, the water particles move in circular paths.
What are the three factors that control deep currents?
B. Surface currents are controlled by three factors: global winds, the Coriolis effect, and continental deflections. surface create surface currents in the ocean. Different winds cause currents to flow in different directions.
What is the definition of wave period?
Video: Wave Period: Definition & Formula. Waves are all around us – we can see them in water, and we encounter them everyday in the form of sound waves and microwaves. The cycle of a wave can be fast or slow, and this is determined by the wave period, which is the main focus of this lesson.
Why do waves break?
Onshore winds do the opposite. They accelerate the breaking process. Nevertheless, ocean floor topography will critically decide how wave energy will transform into whitewater. As waves reach the shore, the energy in front of the wave slows down due to friction with the shallow bottom.
How the waves are formed?
Waves are most commonly caused by wind. Wind-driven waves, or surface waves, are created by the friction between wind and surface water. As wind blows across the surface of the ocean or a lake, the continual disturbance creates a wave crest. The gravitational pull of the sun and moon on the earth also causes waves.
What is a constructive wave?
Destructive waves are created in storm conditions. They are created from big, strong waves when the wind is powerful and has been blowing for a long time. They occur when wave energy is high and the wave has travelled over a long fetch. They tend to erode the coast. They have a stronger backwash than swash.
Why is upwelling important for life in the ocean?
Deep ocean water is more nutrient-rich than surface water simply because things (nutrients, plankton carcasses, fish carcasses) in the ocean sink. Upwelling brings those lost/sunk nutrients back to the surface, which creates “blooms” of algae and zooplankton, which feed on those nutrients.
How does energy move through a wave?
‘Wave’ is a common term for a number of different ways in which energy is transferred: In electromagnetic waves, energy is transferred through vibrations of electric and magnetic fields. In sound waves, energy is transferred through vibration of air particles or particles of a solid through which the sound travels.
What influences the tides?
The relative distances and positions of the sun, moon and Earth all affect the size and magnitude of the Earth’s two tidal bulges. At a smaller scale, the magnitude of tides can be strongly influenced by the shape of the shoreline.
How does a deep current form?
In these areas, the balance between gravity and Earth’s spin causes geostrophic currents to flow. Deep ocean currents are caused by differences in water temperature and salinity (density).
What is the main cause of tsunamis?
A tsunami is a series of large waves generated by an abrupt movement on the ocean floor that can result from an earthquake, an underwater landslide, a volcanic eruption or – very rarely – a large meteorite strike. However, powerful undersea earthquakes are responsible for most tsunamis.