OCEAN
MOTION
Coulter
WHAT IS A
WAVE?
• Most waves form when winds
blowing across the water’s
surface transmit their energy
to the water.
• Wave-movement of energy
through a body of water.
• Wave size- depends on the
strength of the wind and on
the length of time it blows.
– Gentle breeze- small
ripples
– Strong winds- larger
waves
WHAT IS A
WAVE?
• Size also depends on the
distance over which the wind
blows.
• Winds on the Pacific Ocean
can create bigger waves then
those blowing across the
narrower Atlantic Ocean.
• Wave energy- although waves
may appear to carry water
toward shore, the water doe
not actually move forward in
deep water.
– Example a cork in water.
WATER
MOTION
• As the wave passes, water
particles move in a circular
path. They swing forward and
down with the energy of the
wave, then back up to their
original position.
• Deeper water moves in
smaller circles.
• Wind affects surface water
more than deep water.
• Below a certain depth, the
water does not move at all as
the wave passes.
WATER
MOTION
OTHER WAVE
CHARACTERIS
TICS
• Crest- highest part of a wave
• Wavelength- horizontal distance
between crests
• Frequency- the number of waves
that pass a point in a certain
amount of time.
• Trough- lowest part of a wave
• Wave height- the vertical distance
from the crest to the trough.
– Energy and strength of a wave
depend mainly on its wave
height.
HOW WAVES
CHANGE NEAR
SHORE
• Breakers- the white-capped waves
that crash onto shore.
• Shells- in deep water, long, low
waves
• Near shore, wave height increases
and wavelength decreases.
• When wave reaches certain height
the crest topples.
• At first the breaker surges up the
beach, but gravity slows it down
and water flows back to sea.
TSUNAMIS
• Tsunami, is usually caused by
an earthquake beneath the
ocean floor.
• The abrupt movement of the
ocean floor sends pulses of
energy through water above.
• If you were on a boat you may
not even know a tsunami is
passing.
– A tsunami in deep water may
have a wavelength of 200 km,
but a wave height of less than a
meter. When tsunami reaches
the coast, friction with the
ocean floor causes the long
wavelength to decrease
suddenly. The wave height
increases as the water “piles
up”
TSUNAMIS
• Most common in Pacific Ocean
– Alaska, Hawaii, and Japan
• Governments in areas prone to
tsunamis are searching for ways to
avoid such devastation.
• Some Japanese cities have built
barriers designed to break up the
waves.
• Scientists also monitor the ocean
floor for warning of earthquakes
that may produce tsunamis
HOW WAVES
AFFECT THE
SHORE
• Longshore drift- as waves come into
shore, water washes up the beach
at an angle, carrying sand grains.
The water sand then run straight
back down the beach.
• This movement of sand along the
beach is called longshore drift.
• Rip currents- a rush of water that
flows rapidly back to sea through a
narrow opening.
– Can carry a swimmer out into
deep water
– A strong swimmer can usually
escape by swimming across the
current, parallel to the beach.
WAVES AND
BEACH
EROSION
• Waves shape the beach by eroding
the shore in some places and
building it up in others
• Erosion- destructive process in
which water, wind, or gravity
loosens and carries away fragments
of rock.
• First, waves hit rocky shorelines and
carve the rocks into tall cliffs and
arches.
• Over thousands of years, waves
break the rock into pebbles and
grains of sand.
• Then waves begin to eat away at
the exposed beach, the shoreline
slowly moves farther inland.
BARRIER
BEACHES
• Natural landform that protects
shorelines from wave action along lowlying beaches.
• They form parallel to the shore
• These beaches are separated from the
mainland by a shallow lagoon.
• Waves break against the barrier beach
instead of the mainland.
SAND DUNES
• Sand dunes- are hills of windblown
sand.
• Make a beach more stable and protect
the shore from erosion.
• Strong roots from dune plants hold the
land together (beach grass, sea oats)
• These plants help slow erosion from
wind and water.
• They are often destroyed by cars, bikes,
people walking over them.
• Without the plants the dunes can be
washed away.
GROINS
• People like to live near beaches and so
take measures to protect the beaches
from the affects of erosion.
• One method is to build a wall of rocks or
concrete (groin), outward from the
beach.
• Sand carried by the water piles up
against the groins instead of moving
along the shore
• Groins increase the amount of erosion
farther down the beach.