Oceanography

Oceanography

The scientific studies of the ocean.

Industry: Earth science

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Oceanography

ebb tide

Earth science; Oceanography

Time during the tidal period when the tide is falling. Compare with flood tide.

Using the same principles as single-beam echo-sounding, multi-beam or swathe echo-sounding is a method of hydrographic survey using hull-mounted arrays which transmit sound beams perpendicular to the ...

Kelvin-Helmholtz billows

Earth science; Oceanography

Vortical structures that result from the growth and nonlinear development of unstable waves in a shear flow. The billows get their name from the instability responsible for the growth of the ...

surge

Earth science; Oceanography

Water transported up a beach by breaking waves.

wave refraction

Earth science; Oceanography

Wave refraction is the process by which wave crests are bent according to variations in seabed contours. This is because as a wave enters shallow water its speed becomes a function of water depth, ...

gravity wave

Earth science; Oceanography

Waves that propagate under the influence of buoyancy forces. Gravity waves include surface gravity waves, such as waves on the surface of the ocean, interfacial gravity waves, such as waves at the ...

Poincare wave

Earth science; Oceanography

Within a channel in a rotating system, a Poincare' wave has sinusoidally varying cross-channel velocity with an integral or half integral number of cross-channel waves spanning the channel. In the ...