The cause of ocean waves is one of the unknowns that arise when we stand before the vastness of the sea, and science has a few answers to shed light on the undulating motion of the tides.
What causes ocean waves
The ocean is the surface where wave behavior is most evident; it is never still and always generates motion. There is not a single moment where the vast ocean is still, whether you observe it from the safety of the beach or a boat in the middle of the water, the immensity of a gigantic mass of water generates respect. But then the question arises, what causes the ocean waves?
The immediate answer is the most obvious of all; the wind is the most common cause of waves, although it is not the only one, nor the simplest. When the wind blows, it generates friction between it and the most superficial layer of water; these are called surface waves and are the most common type of movement observed.
Then the disturbances caused by the wind, or surface waves, continue to expand through the water until they create a crest that can be observed along the coast, which we call waves.
Also keep in mind that water does not actually travel, what happens is a transmission of energy that excites the fluid, but it is not per se that the water molecules move great distances, but it is the energy that moves. So much so that if there is nothing to obstruct it, wave energy can travel through an entire ocean basin.
Hurricanes and Waves
Hurricanes are gigantic disturbances in atmospheric dynamics and are therefore capable of generating strong winds. Stronger winds, in turn, are synonymous with much stronger waves. The difference with surface waves lies basically in the magnitude.
Waves caused by hurricanes, typhoons, and all atmospheric disturbances are called storm surges. These are created far from the coast in much deeper waters and then intensify as they approach to land on the coasts.
The Moon and the Sun
Of course, the incidence of wind is not the only thing that causes waves, there is another much larger force to which the Earth is subjected and which also causes movements in our oceans; gravity. The Moon and the Earth are subjected to each other through a process that astrophysicists call ‘orbital dynamics’, both are immersed in a system that responds to a large number of factors such as the geoid shape of the Earth and the rotational movements of both.
The interactions of the gravitational fields of both, affect the Earth; however, this is rock, and therefore, where the perturbations are most noticeable, is in the fluids that cover the planet, ie, the oceans. This is what is known as tidal force and is what generates the rise in sea level on certain days of the month, depending on where the Moon is, either aligned with the Sun or perpendicular.
In summary, there are different reasons why waves are generated, mainly the wind and the Earth-Moon system, plus the fact that our planet is three-quarters water, it is to be expected that it does not stay still.
Story originally published in Spanish in Ecoosfera
