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Dispersion of gravity waves on a fluid surface. Phase and group velocity divided by shallow-water phase velocity √ gh as a function of relative depth h / λ. Blue lines (A): phase velocity; Red lines (B): group velocity; Black dashed line (C): phase and group velocity √ gh valid in shallow water.
The speed of a wave in water depends on the depth, so the ripples slow down as they pass over the glass. This causes the wavelength to decrease. If the junction between the deep and shallow water is at an angle to the wavefront, the waves will refract. In the diagram above, the waves can be seen to bend towards the normal.
Shallow-water equations can be used to model Rossby and Kelvin waves in the atmosphere, rivers, lakes and oceans as well as gravity waves in a smaller domain (e.g. surface waves in a bath). In order for shallow-water equations to be valid, the wavelength of the phenomenon they are supposed to model has to be much larger than the depth of the ...
Dispersion may be caused either by geometric boundary conditions (waveguides, shallow water) or by interaction of the waves with the transmitting medium. Elementary particles , considered as matter waves , have a nontrivial dispersion relation, even in the absence of geometric constraints and other media.
An exact relation for the mass flux of a nonlinear periodic wave on an inviscid fluid layer was established by Levi-Civita in 1924. [9] In a frame of reference according to Stokes' first definition of wave celerity, the mass flux of the wave is related to the wave's kinetic energy density (integrated over depth and thereafter averaged over wavelength) and phase speed through:
After the wave breaks, it becomes a wave of translation and erosion of the ocean bottom intensifies. Cnoidal waves are exact periodic solutions to the Korteweg–de Vries equation in shallow water, that is, when the wavelength of the wave is much greater than the depth of the water.
Breaking swell waves at Hermosa Beach, California. A swell, also sometimes referred to as ground swell, in the context of an ocean, sea or lake, is a series of mechanical waves that propagate along the interface between water and air under the predominating influence of gravity, and thus are often referred to as surface gravity waves.
New waves seem to emerge at the back of a wave group, grow in amplitude until they are at the center of the group, and vanish at the wave group front. For surface gravity waves, the water particle velocities are much smaller than the phase velocity, in most cases.