What causes ocean waves 9 Articles

by Rex Trulove

Ocean waves have a primary and two secondary causes, depending on the type of wave we are talking about. The primary cause also has a direct and an indirect cause. Addressing the direct cause without doing the same to the ...read more

by Sarah Sunshine

I love the feeling I get when I look out over the ocean. Whether I'm in a plane or on the shore, I find its vastness to be simply awe-inspiring. There's almost nothing more magical than the ocean and all of its many prop...read more

by Lauren Beyenhof

Ocean waves are caused by wind. That seems like a simple answer. The more complex answer is that the wind patterns that occur at different latitudes on the globe give rise to the ebb and flow of the ocean's waves. Each oce...read more

by Ian Loft

The world's oceans, seas and lakes represent millions of square miles of surface across which air movements ranging from gentle breezes to raging storms create motion and energy that we see as waves. For swimmers and sur...read more

by Martin W. Schwartz

There are three types of ocean waves: 1) Normal waves caused by the action of wind on the surface of the water and accentuated by the gravitational pull of the Moon. 2) Rogue waves, also called freak waves. Their ex...read more

by Chen Max

Ocean waves are caused mainly by the winds. When winds blow on the surface of ocean, the friction between winds and ocean surface is the driven source of ocean waves. It is a kind of energy transfer. That means, the dynami...read more

by Ann Marie Dwyer

Both types of ocean waves, tsunamis and surface waves, are the vertical shifting of water, but are created by totally different influences. Surface waves, most common, are created by the friction of the wind as it blows...read more

by The Hitchhiker

Various factors contribute to the formation of ocean waves - they can be made by geological movements underwater (such as earthquakes or landslides), by the wake from ships, or, most commonly, by the wind. The wind swee...read more

by Richard Serra

Since the question of what causes waves is simple enough, then keeping the answer should be simple as well. We all see the effects of wind on a water surface. In a puddle it produces small ripples. In a lake it produces ...read more