![]() All you have to do is sit back and relax at the water's edge, as wave after endless wave takes away the heat and stress of the day.īut where do all those endless waves come from? Is there a giant sitting in the ocean on the other side of the world, kicking his feet to make round after round of waves? Or perhaps there's an underwater wave machine that runs night and day to create those never-ending whitecaps? Or could science provide the answer to the question of waves? If you've ever been to the ocean and spent time on the beach, you know that there are few joys as precious as feeling waves crash all around you, cooling your body on a hot summer day. She utters those magic words and you're off, diving into the surf in search of a wave to ride back to shore. You've just been waiting for the lifeguard on duty to give the go ahead. However, the introduction of the Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) and its two-dimensional sea surface images helped detect potentially hazardous cross-sea scenarios, even in cloudy and adverse weather conditions.Surf's up! Those are the words you've been waiting to hear. In one of its scientific expeditions, the German research icebreaker vessel RV Polarstern detected and recorded a heavy rolling event created by square waves. Most of them occurred around the time fast temporal variations of sea state parameters were observed and when wind sea and swell are almost perfectly aligned. So, when two wave systems create an oblique angle wave, it can interfere with shipping routes and cause accidents.Īccording to the European Space Agency (ESA), these square waves were responsible for a large percentage of ship accidents from 1995 to 1999. Wave diffraction is the bending of waves due to interaction with coastal features and obstructions like cliffs, headlands, or breakwaters. Wave refraction is the bending of swells and wave trains due to sudden and more or less changes in depth and bathymetry. The picture above shows the checkered wave pattern between two breakwaters near Lisbon, Portugal.Īs we've seen above, a cross-sea state is the result of several oceanographic phenomena taking place near the coastline, including: Nevertheless, it has also been spotted in open waters in the South Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean. The island, located off the coast of La Rochelle, is a tourist attraction even though cross seas only occur during certain times of the year. The most famous place in the world for watching square waves is Île de Ré - Isle of Ré - in France, as seen in the top picture. They can reach 10 feet (three meters) in height.Ĭross seas are relatively rare and can appear and disappear within minutes on many beaches worldwide. Square-shaped waves are fascinating, but these criss-cross ripples pose a real threat to everyone and are too strong to get out of. Swimming or surfing in the middle of a cross-sea is not something you should be doing, even if you're an experienced swimmer or wave rider.Ĭross swells can also cause boating accidents and shipwrecks. Why? Because the phenomenon is usually associated with strong and localized rip tides. If you see square waves in the ocean, get out of the water as soon as possible. The look of square waves is impressive, but they're extremely dangerous, even in small swell conditions. ![]() When two opposing swells collide, a unique pattern emerges. In other words, square waves result from the intersection of two seas, also known as cross sea or grid waves.Ī weather pattern in the region causes the waves to form at different angles. ![]() Instead, they're the result of the way the water is moving. However, square waves do not result from any circumstance that is taking place below the water. You can easily spot the strange pattern by climbing to the top of a lighthouse or cliff or flying a drone over the area. Looking at these waves from above, it seems like there's an underwater grid forming square-shaped ripples. The phenomenon is rare yet extremely dangerous. ![]() However, in some regions of the world, you may notice the creation of a chessboard-like pattern on the surface of the water. Most waves reach the shore and break horizontally and parallel to the coastline. Have you ever spotted a quadrilateral-shaped wave pattern in the ocean? If so, you've witnessed square waves.
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