eli5: Waves come in at New York, and waves come in at Europe. What happens in the middle?
In: Earth Science
Most of all the waves are cause by wind. The friction between the wind and the water causes waves to form. You can verify this by blowing over a pan of water. Especcially in open water, waves can build up energy, becoming very long in wavelength and high in amplitude. Near shores it gets less deep, this forces the waves to become of shorter wavelength and slower. Because of this, the waves always turn towards the shores, and not in the original wind direction.
Also, I am surprised by the amount of bad answers i read in this thread. Many people apparently overestimate their knowledge on this.
Latest Answers