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All waves begin as disturbances or releases of energy
 Air-water interface- Movement of air across the ocean creates ocean waves
 Air-Air interface- Movement of air masses across each other creates atmospheric waves
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Commonly around cold air masses
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Water-Water interface- movement of water masses across each other creates internal waves
 Normally around the pycnocline, can be a hazard for a submarine
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Splash Waves- caused by large amounts of mass falling into the ocean
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Seismic sea waves or Tsunamis- caused by seafloor movement, avalanches, or volcanic activity
 Human activity- ships leave wakes, and denotation of nuclear devices can leave large waves
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Tides- Waves caused by gravitational pull of the sun and moon
Waves carry energy by cyclic movement though matter
 Progressive Waves- Waves that travel without breaking
 Body Waves- Waves that transfer energy through a body of matter
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Longitudinal Waves- Waves that push and pull in in the same direction the energy is travelling in- can pass through all stages of matter
 Transverse Waves- Waves that move from side to side –can normally only pass through solids, because those bonds are the only ones strong enough
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Orbital Waves- Waves that are both longitudinal and transverse – surface waves
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Wave parts- Idealized ocean waves can be broken up into parts
 Crests- High parts of the waves
 Troughs- Low parts of the waves that alternate with Crests
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Wave Height- Vertical distance between Crests and Troughs (H)

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Still Water level- Half way between Crests and Troughs- water level without waves
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Wavelength- Horizontal distance from two corresponding points from the wave
(L)
 Wave Steepness- Wave Height/ Wavelength
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Wave Break- If Wave Steepness exceeds 1/7, the wave will spill over or “break”
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Wave Period- The time it takes for one full wave to pass a fixed point (T)
 Normally between 6-16 seconds
 Frequency- Number of wave crests passing a fixed point per unit of time (f)
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Inverse of Wave period
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Circular Orbital Movement- Energy passed by moving in a circle
 Circular Orbits of an Object- The diameter of the orbits is equal the wave height
 Orbits are largest on top, then decrease going down
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Wave Base- Depth of where the orbits are so small that movements are negligible – Wave Length/2
 Submarines and Divers can dive under the wave base to calmer waters
 Deep Water Waves- Waves where water depth is greater than wave base
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Have no interference with ocean bottom
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Includes all wind-generated waves on the open ocean
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Wave Speed/ Celerity- Wave Length/ Wave Period
 Not directly measuring mass in motion, just wave form
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Longer the wavelength, the faster the wave
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Shallow Water Waves- Waves that have a depth greater than 20 times smaller than length
 Touch bottom or have interference with ocean bottom
 Deeper the depth, the faster the wave
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Transitional Waves/ Intermediate Waves- Wave length for these are inbtween twotwenty times wave depths
 Share characteristics from the first two
 Depend on both water depth and on wave length
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Wind Generated Waves
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Sea/ Sea Area - Area where wind driven waves are generated
 Capillary Waves- Have v-shaped troughs and waves less than .7 of an inch
 Commonly called Ripples
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Restoring Force- Force that works to stop waves
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Gravity Waves- Gravity is the common restoring force, taller than capillary waves

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60 Foot Rule- Says that no wind driven wave should be over 60 feet
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U.S.S. Ramapo- Tanker that accurately measured waves that were 112 feet high
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Swell- Long crested waves with little steepness
 Can occur at shores where there is no wind
 Wave trains- Groups of waves
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Wave dispersion- Progression of long, fast waves to short, slow waves
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Decay Distance- Distance where waves change from choppy sea to uniform swells
 Interference Patterns- Where waves clash or swells come together
 Constructive Interference- Wave trains with same wave length come together and overlap, which results in the wave height equaling heights being added
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Destructive Interference- Where waves collide at different points and if they have equal energy, they cancel each other out
 Mixed Interference- Waves that have varying wave lengths can create a mix of both Constructive and Destructive
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Free Waves- Not maintained by a force to keep it in motion
 Force Wave- Maintained by a force to keep it in motion
 Rogue/ Super waves- Massive solitary waves that occur where normal waves cannot reach such a height
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Can cause large ships to go missing without a trace
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Best conditions are on the Agulhas Current where it meets large Antarctic storm waves
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Surf Zone- Zone of breaking waves
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Shoaling- Depth that become more shallow
 Breaker- Wave that spills over
 Spilling breaker- Runs down from the collapse, longer but slower than other breakers
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Plunging Breaker- This waves crest plunges over an air pocket thus creating its name
 Surging Breaker- Waves surge forward and break at the shoreline
 Wave Refraction- Where one part of the wave slows down before the rest by touching bottom first
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Orthogonal Lines- Lines that are evenly spaced, and show how energy is being distributed by breaking waves
 Wave Diffraction- The act of waves going around a barrier that slows or stops forward motion
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Wave Reflection- Where wave energy is reflected backwards often into incoming waves
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Standing Waves- waves that have same length, but in opposite direction
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This results in no net movement
 Antinodes- points of greatest vertical movement between waves
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Tsunamis- seismic sea waves that are large, sometimes destructive
 Cannot be caused by horizontal displacements
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Wave length normally exceeds 200km (125 miles)
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Open ocean tsunamis can travel at 700km/hr (435miles/hr)
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Effects on Coast- The surges and retreats of waters cause high coastal damage
 Deadly because of speed (13ft/s) and floating debris
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Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC)- coordinates information from countries by the use of seismic waves, which are faster than the tsunami
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Tsunami Watch- Tsunami is capable of being generated, but may or may not already be generated
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Tsunami Warning- Unusual wave activity is monitored and verified
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Tsunamigenic- Capable of creating a Tsunami