Thanks to Tom Garrison, author of Essentials of Oceanography, information about waves is available for your viewing pleasure!
Waves transmit energy, not water mass, across the sea’s surface. So believe it or not, in an ocean wave, energy is moving at the speed of the actual wave, while the water stays in place. The energy moves from water particle to water particle in a circular motion called orbits, which moves wave energy through the sea’s surface and creates the waveform to move! This may be seen when sitting on your surfboard in the water, and although a wave passes you, you don’t move. The energy moves, but the water doesn’t.
If in case there is movement, it is most likely the affects of a progressive wave that would have the wave move forward caused by wind.
Lets get to terms… plus if you use these while at the beach, it will sound like you really know what you’re talking about!
The highest part of the wave above average water level is the wave crest.
The wave trough is the space between the wave crests.
The actual vertical distance between a wave crest and trough is the wave height.
The actual horizontal distance between to crests or troughs is the wave length.
Wave frequency is the number of waves passing a fixed point per second, this is where you can find the consistency.
There are however, 5 types of ocean waves: capillary waves, wind waves, seiches, seismic sea waves, and tides. Arranged from short to long wavelengths, ocean waves are generated by small distrubances (capillary waves), wind (wind waves), rocking of water in enclosed spaces (seiches), seismic and volcanic activity or ther sudden displacements (tsunami), and gravitational attraction (tides).
Once the waves reache a shore, they will break from a deep water wave to a shallow water wave in water less than half a wave length deep. When the wave reaches the bottom or the shore, the orbits are interrupted as the water is less than half the wavelength in depth. This makes the wave’s energy forced into less water depth so the wave crests become peaked, rather than rounded. It is the relationship with the sea bottom and size of the wave, and when the wave becomes too high for wavelength, the ratio approaches a 1:7 ratio. As the water becomes more shallow, the part of the wave below average sea level slows because of the restricting effect the ocean floor has on the wave motion. At this point, the water is moving faster than the wave. As the wave crest moves forward from the base, the wave finally breaks at a 3:4 ratio. (a 3-meter wave will break in 4 meters of water). The surf zone is the region between the breaking waves and the shore. Depending on the sea floor and it’s slopes, waves break differently. So the wave can be violent, crumble, or tube between the falling crest and the foot of the wave.
Garrison, Tom (2006) “Essentials of Oceanography: Fourth Edition”.
