Info about waves?

Question

hey im a surfer and id like to know more about how waves are formed and how they break

and what kind of things change the way they break

like the reef, the wind and the sea floor slope

thank you

Answer 1

There are whole books written on this subject but here are some Cliff Notes.

Waves are created by wind.  The duration that the wind blows and the distance which it blows over (know as fetch) determine the swell potential.  As the waves travel over a distance they will start to "pile on top" on one another eventually combining to increase their size but decrease their number.  This is how you end up with sets.  If you picture a conveyor belt moving on the back of a truck this is how waves travel in the open ocean.  The sets travel together but the individual waves will pass each other in series.  Strong winds with a long fetch, and deeper water with longer swell travel distances result in ground swell, allowing for larger more powerful waves.  Wind swell results in smaller weaker surf with less organization.  The continental shelf on the east coast prevents ground swell from truly developing there.

The shape and depth of the shore line and the direction, size and period of the swell will determine the size of the waves when they break.

Answer 2

Umm  Jon....stick to music !  ;-)

Wind blowing out at see causes the waves. A long period of blowing will cause a consistent swell(between 12 hours and 3 days later), it brings a ripple to the ocean surface.....

http://au.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-4pgmtK...

if the swell's big, you'll want a rock floor or reef.

The curve of the wave (inside) will have a large radius.

Smaller is usually suited to beach breaks, more fun IMO

...shorter rides, smaller radius, more action, more interesting stuff the wave does......

Answer 3

waves are created by the flow of the ocean water comes in and must go out when the two meet they make a wave, so naturally when there is a reef is slows down the flow making smaller waves, slope of the sea floor can increase or decrease the speed of which the water flows in and out, and wind influences the top layer of water that's why waves are bigger during the day when the wind blows in toward the land

Answer 4

wind blowing across water creates "fetch"; or the begining of waves. They then become a rolling energy through the water, moving in cycles. When they get to a beach, they brek when the depth becomes half of the waves height.

now, the other part of the story is the bottom, and that greatly affects waves. A gentle slope towords shore is perfect, deep channells cause the wave to fall away.

Wind coming from sea to shore tends to blow down waves, from land to sea stands them up.

Experience is the real teacher hee though. Get a board and see for yourself.