UNIT - III

DSE- VI Hydrology and Oceanography (12297603)

OCEANIC MOVEMENTS – WAVES

Dr. Vijendra Kumar Pandey

Introduction
Ocean water is constantly in motion: north-south, east-
west, alongshore, and vertically. Seawater motions are the
result of waves, tides, and currents.

Ocean movements are the consequence of many factors:

wind, tides, Coriolis effect, density differences, temperature
differences and the shape of the ocean basins.

Ocean waves transfer energy through the water over great

distances.
Waves
• Wind blowing across the water transfers energy to that
water. The energy first creates tiny ripples that create an
uneven surface for the wind to catch so that it may create
larger waves. These waves travel across the ocean out of
the area where the wind is blowing.
• Remember that a wave is a transfer of energy. Do you
think the same molecules of water that starts out in a
wave in the middle of the ocean later arrive at the shore?
• Water molecules in waves make circles or ellipses.
Energy transfers between molecules but the molecules
themselves mostly bob up and down in place.
Point to be Noted !

Most ocean waves are caused by wind, but many other

types of waves, including internal waves, splash waves,
tsunami, tides, and human-induced waves, are created by
transfer of energy in the ocean.
Movement pattern

The circles show the motion of a water molecule in a wind wave. Wave energy is
greatest at the surface and decreases with depth. A shows that a water molecule
travels in a circular motion in deep water. B shows that molecules in shallow water
travel in an elliptical path because of the ocean bottom.
Wave Anatomy

• The main cause of waves

is wind. The faster and
longer the wind blows, the
more wave action there
will be.
• The water in waves
moves in small, circular
patterns called orbitals.
These orbitals get smaller
as you go deeper in the
Parts of a Wave water. Once you reach a
• Crest = high point depth that is one-half the
wavelength, the water is
• Trough = low point no longer moved by wind.
• The time it takes for two
• Height = vertical distance from
crest to trough wave crests to pass a
fixed point is called the
• Wavelength = Horizontal wave period.
distance between crest to crest
or trough to trough
Waves are!

1. A Wave is a rhythmic movement that carries

energy through matter or space.

2. When a wave passes through the ocean, individual

water molecules move up and down in a circular
motion but they do not move forward or backward

3. As waves approach shore, the wave length

decreases and wave height increases

4. When a wave breaks against the shore, the crest

outruns the trough and the crest collapses-this is
called a breaker (water moves forward and
backward at this point).
BEAUFORT WIND SCALE AND THE STATE OF THE SEA
 Type of waves
Different types of waves move in a variety of ways. Simple progressive waves are
waves that oscillate uniformly and progress or travel without breaking. Progressive
waves are divided into longitudinal, transverse, or a combination of the two motions,
called orbital.
1. longitudinal waves (also known as push–pull waves), the particles that vibrate
“push and pull” in the same direction that the wave is traveling, like a spring
whose coils are alternately compressed and expanded. The shape of the wave
(called a waveform) moves through the medium by compressing and
decompressing as it goes.
2. transverse waves (also known as side-to-side waves), energy travels at right
angles to the direction of the vibrating particles. If one end of a rope is tied to a
doorknob while the other end is moved up and down (or side to side) by hand,
for example, a waveform progresses along the rope and energy is transmitted
from the motion of the hand to the doorknob.
Longitudinal and transverse waves are called body waves because they transfer
energy through a body of matter. Ocean waves are considered surface waves
because they travel along the interface between two different fluids (air and water).
The movement of particles in ocean waves involves components of both
longitudinal and transverse waves, so particles move in circular orbits. Thus, waves
at the ocean surface are orbital waves (also called interface waves).
Waves caused by winds
• The surface of the sea exerts frictional drag on the bottom layer of
wind blowing over it, and this layer exerts a frictional drag on the layer
above it and so on. The air tumbles forward and finally develops a
circular motion. This motion causes a downward pressure on the
surface at its front, and an upward pressure at its rear, and this
causes the surface to take on the form of a wave.

• They are formed by the energy of the wind through direct pressure of
the airflow on the windward sides of the crests and through its friction
on the wave’s surface. The development of waves caused by wind
begins with the formation of ripples, which are capillary waves. As the
capillary waves grow, they change into gravitational waves, which
gradually increase in length and height. In their initial stage of
development, the waves run in parallel lines, which later disintegrate
into individual crests (three-dimensional wave pattern). The surface of
the water stirred up by the wind takes on a very complicated shape,
which continually changes over time.
Size of Wind Generated Waves

Depends on 3 things:
• Wind Speed
• Wind Duration (length of
time wind blows)
• “Fetch” Extent of open
water across which the
wind can blow
Types of Wave
1. Deep water waves: Wind generated waves are called sea waves. They are
usually made up of a number of waves of different wave lengths superimposed
on one another. These waves becomes more regular as they move into calmer
water.
2. Swell waves are straight and long, and they travel great distance across the
maintaining most of their power.
3. Inshore waves: when a waves enter water whose depth is less than the length
of the wave, its velocity decreases. The causes to the wavelength decrease
which in turns results in an increase in the height of the wave. The wave
steepens, becomes unstable and eventually breaks.
4. The water thrown up the beach is the swash and that which drains down the
beach under gravity is the back-swash.
5. Constructive waves: The circular movement of water in a wave. These types of
wave move forward on the crest and backward in the trough. When a wave move
towards the shore the circular form becomes elliptical. When the waves break,
the swash sweeps up the beach as a sheet of water often reaching the upper
beach. Most of swash soaks into the beach which means there is very little
backwash.
Waves caused by earthquakes are called Tsunamis

i. Tsunamis were once called Tidal

waves, but they have nothing to do
with the tides.
ii. They are produced by earthquakes
and other seismic disturbances.
That’s why they’re also called
seismic sea waves.
iii. Sudden outflow of water then it
returns much higher.

“Most tsunami are generated by

underwater fault movement, which
transfers energy to the entire water
column. When these fast and long waves
surge ashore, they can do considerable
damage.”
SOME EXAMPLES OF HISTORIC AND RECENT TSUNAMI
 Importance of Waves

Shaping Coastlines
• Erode cliffs
• Grind rock into sand

Ecology
• Returns O2 to water
• Stir up food for filter
feeders
CONCEPTS REVIEW

How are waves generated, and how do they move?

I. All ocean waves begin as disturbances that release energy into the ocean.
Energy sources include wind, the movement of fluids of different densities
(which create internal waves), catastrophic releases of energy into the
ocean by landslides and meteor impacts, underwater sea floor
movements, the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun on Earth, and
human activities in the ocean.
II. Once initiated, waves transmit energy through matter by setting up
patterns of oscillatory motion in the particles that make up the matter.
Progressive waves are longitudinal, transverse, or orbital, depending on
the pattern of particle oscillation. Particles in ocean waves move primarily
in orbital paths.