What force builds waves?
Winds
What modifies coasts?
Waves
How do tropical cyclones form?
From perturbations of the normal state of tropical atmosphere; air coming off at the boundary of desert and tropical rainforest → hot, dry Saharan air and moist tropical air to the south
What kind of wind shear is good/bad for storms?
Low vertical = good for storms
High vertical = bad for storms
What is the lifecycle of a hurricane?
Tropical wave
Tropical depression
Tropical storm
Hurricane
What is a wave?
Undulating disturbance moving through a medium
What do waves do and not do?
They propagate energy but do not transfer water
What is the primary restoring force for all but the smallest waves?
Gravity
What is a disturbing force?
Energy
What is orbital motion?
Motion within a wave tends to be circular
Circles get smaller with depth
What are wave classifications?
Deep water
Shallow water
Intermediate
What kinds of waves travel faster?
Those with longer wavelengths
How does moving into shallower water impact a wave?
The wave will slow down and the speed changes to being a function of water depth rather than wavelength
What happens as waves approach the shore?
They get slower, shorter, higher, and thus steeper
Which part will slow down the most?
The part of the wave in the shallowest water will slow down the most
Which part of coasts do waves tend to focus on?
Headlands; waves turn toward a headland and open up around a bay
What are headlands?
A point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water
What is the longshore current?
Net transport of water and sediment along the beach
What are types of wave breaking patterns?
Spilling
Plunging
Surging
What is a spilling wave break?
Gentle slope
What is a plunging wave break?
Steep slope –> waves build more quickly and rapidly collapse
leads to more lifting of sediments off of the bottom
What is a surging wave break?
Long, low amplitude waves on a moderate slope; wave breaks before crest arrives
What is the surf zone?
Where the waves break on shore; affected by the slope of the bottom
What is a breaker zone?
Breaking is actively initiated
