Many models for forecasting ocean waves simplify the physics by assuming that waves are essentially two-dimensional, like a long breaker heading toward shore. But in the open ocean, waves often Keep reading
Tag: breaking wave
The Crashing Waves of French Polynesia
Surfer and photographer Tim McKenna lives in the village of Teahupo’o on Tahiti’s southeastern coast. The area’s shallow coral reef system creates some of the world’s biggest barreling waves, which Keep reading
Banzai Pipeline From Above
On the north shore of O’ahu, Hawaii, Banzai Pipeline is known for some of the most thrilling and deadly surfing in the world. The area’s barrel rolls are triggered when Keep reading
“Water III”
In “Water III,” filmmaker Morgan Maassen explores the ocean from above and below. I love the sheer variety of fluid phenomena; yes, there are classic breaking barrel waves for surfing, Keep reading
Simulating Better Breaking Waves
In the ocean, breaking waves trap air into bubbles that then cluster into foam, but conventional simulations don’t capture this foaminess. For bubbles to cluster into foam, there has to Keep reading
Reader Question: Waves Breaking
As a follow-up to the recent waves post, reader robotslenderman asks: What does it look like when the wave breaks? And why do waves sometimes push us back? Why are we able to Keep reading
Breaking
As waves fold over and break, they trap air, creating bubbles of many sizes. The smallest of these bubbles can be only a few microns across and persist for long Keep reading
Breaking Soon
Australian photographer Warren Keelan captures spectacular photos of waves just before and during the moment they break. Fluid dynamics is defined by motion – specifically the motion of substances that Keep reading
Below a Surfer’s Wave
From below a plunging breaking wave–the classic surfer’s wave–looks like a giant vortex tube. Smaller rib vortices, the rings around the main vortex in the photo above, can form where Keep reading
Reader Question: Wave Vortex
Reader unquietcode asks: I saw this post recently and it made me wonder what’s going on. If you look in the upper right of the frame as the camera submerges, Keep reading