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Making Waves

Scott Wall
Year: 2015 Pages: 3

The consensus of oceanographers is that ocean waves are predominately caused by wind and supplemented by a few other sources. The following are said to be the causative forces behind ocean waves:

  • wind
  • gravitational pull of the sun and moon
  • wave shoaling (by entering shallower waters)
  • wave refractions (from bathymetry and currents)
  • variations in wind and atmospheric pressure (seiches)
  • displacement waves (from boat wakes, landslides, etc.)
  • interactions with sea ice and icebergs (dampening effect)
  • gravity (dampening effect)
  • viscosity (dampening effect)

This paper intends to examine the efficacy of these forces in generating the gamut of ocean waves.