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Waves

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Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences

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Definition

Wave motion is the fundamental mode of energy propagation over large distances without substantial deformation or permanent displacement of the medium. Waves organize a part of energy and momentum supplied to the water masses and propagate as coherent motions that rapidly carry the energy to the coasts. Surface gravity waves with periods from about 1 to 25 s are called ocean waves below.

Introduction

The most important classes among a variety of wave motions in the ocean (LeBlond and Mysak, 1978) are surface waves and internal waves. The motions in surface waves are concentrated at sea surface, while internal waves (Miropolsky, 2001) propagate along a stratified medium, often along major density jumps in the water column. The basic restoring force for both is gravity and both involve a combination of longitudinal and transverse waves. They can be either progressive or standing and may exhibit all classical properties of waves such as dispersion, reflection, refraction,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Wave Engineering, Institute of Cybernetics at Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia tee 21, 12618, Tallinn, Estonia

    Tarmo Soomere

  2. Division of Informatics and Engineering, Estonian Academy of Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia

    Tarmo Soomere

Authors
  1. Tarmo Soomere
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Correspondence to Tarmo Soomere .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

    Jan Harff

  2. Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Martin Meschede

  3. Leibiniz Institute of Marine Sciences, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Sven Petersen

  4. Academy of Sciences, Humanities, and Lit c/o Helmholtz-Center for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany

    Jörn Thiede

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Soomere, T. (2014). Waves. In: Harff, J., Meschede, M., Petersen, S., Thiede, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_142-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_142-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6644-0

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