Wind then Waves

Wind always comes before waves.  Wind creates waves.  Surfline has a great explanation of how waves are created.  The actual physical movement that water molecules experience in an ocean wave may surprise you.  Check out this animation; water waves are a combination of longitudinal and transverse waves.  Each water molecule does not move very far...possibly a few inches at most.  Can anybody do some research to see if scientists have studied the actual distance a single water molecule moves in an average size ocean wave.

The Wind was roaring from the east this past week, October 10-13, and some nice swells formed due to the friction of wind and water.  Here is some footage I took of waves breaking at a great spot on the barrier islands of Long Island.  It is phone video footage...so not great resolution, but the waves are 5-7 ft high on the faces.  The buoy was reading over 9 ft at a 10 second period, which is a nice ripe swell for Long Island.  On the third and last wave, a surfer gets a nice barrel ride.

This wave is great for surfing, it starts as a surging wave off a point of land and tapers off into a spilling wave as it wraps along the shoreline.  I got a ride that was at least 200 yards long, easily the longest wave I've ridden on Long Island in the decade plus that I've been surfing.  Some scientists categorize breaking waves into three types: surging, dumping, and spilling.   What do you think these terms mean...?

Lastly...buoys are awesome.  They are the robotic sentinels of the ocean.  The NOAA buoy system provides a wealth of information which can me used for so many different functions.  Do you use the buoys for anything or can you imagine who would and why... Click on a yellow diamond, which represents a buoy location, and see what data it is collecting.