Bending Towards the Beach

Wave refraction

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Refraction bends wave crests to run parallel to the shore.
• Headlands focus wave energy; bays spread it out.
• Rogue waves, more than twice the height of their neighbours, are real.

Steps

1. Lined up with the shore
2. Turning a crest
3. Headlands and bays
4. Rogue waves
5. Adding up
6. How rare?