Ocean surface wave

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/ocean-surface-wave

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the coastal impact?Responsible for significant erosion, sediment transport, and coastal geomorphology
2. What is the renewable energy potential?A significant source of renewable energy, with ongoing technological development
3. What makes ocean waves wiggle?Wind blows across the water, creating a pressure difference and friction that pushes the surface. This gives the water tiny ripples that grow into big waves.
4. How do waves get bigger from tiny ripples?When the wind keeps blowing over a long distance and for a long time, the tiny ripples become larger waves. The waves grow from small capillary waves into bigger gravity waves that carry more energy.

Capillary Waves: Small, short-wavelength waves formed by surface tension, the initial stage of wave formation.
Gravity Waves: Waves whose restoring force is gravity, typically with wavelengths greater than a few centimeters.
Wave Period: The time it takes for two successive wave crests (or troughs) to pass a fixed point.
Wave Breaking: The process where a wave becomes unstable and collapses, dissipating energy, usually in shallow water.