Like the title says how are oceanic waves created? I am vaguely familiar with how temperature creates currants in the ocean, but is this what helps create ocean waves?
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Waves are caused by wind. Wind pushes the water constantly forming the wave over time.
A TIDAL wave is caused by gravitational pull between earth and the sun and the moon.
Ocean waves are mostly produced by the wind. Air moves due to things like convection just like in the water, with warmer air masses rising and cooler air falling. Air moving against the surface of the water results in friction that drags some water, piling it up and causing a greater surface for the wind to push against.
Over hundreds and even thousands of miles this builds up into powerful waves which we observe in the ocean.
Take a glass, or maybe a small bowl, and fill it with water. Now blow hard on it. You’ve created tiny waves. Ocean waves are mostly created by wind.
Now shake the bowl with your hands. You’ve created a tiny Tsunami (eg. underwater earthquake).
Finally simply create an extremely dense object and hover it above the bowl of water and move it around. As the gravity of the object pulls on the water you’ve created tidal waves (eg. the moons orbit affect the ocean levels).
There is also tsunami’s which are caused by earthquakes, typically when the seabed rises or falls
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