How can people predict waves?

Question

I know my question sounds kinda stupid but I think it's really cool that people can predict waves like they can predict weather. I'v always wondered how they do it.

Answer 1

There are three things at issue here.

First, waves (regular ocean waves) are generated by sustained winds over long distances.  So if a meteorologist sees higher than normal windspeeds over the ocean, he can predict higher than normal wave heights.

Second, there are "storm effect" conditions, where a storm effectively pushes part of the ocean onto the land.  Whether you call this a wave effect or a tide effect is open to some interpretation, but the two are definitely linked.

Finally, there are "tidal" waves, more accurately called tsunamis, that result from earthquakes, eruptions, or similar catastrophic conditions.  These can't really be predicted - you can't go to the Farmer's Almanac and see when the next tsunami is due.  But once the triggering event occurs, you can predict how big the wave might be, where it is expected to go, and when it is expected to hit. They have computer models, and if you plug in "Magnitude 3 event in Java", the model will predict the tsunami impacts from that.