Year 10 Monday 21/2: The Science of Big Waves

Pre-viewing:

1. Where do ocean waves come from? What gets them started? Waves are formed by the action of the wind blowing across the ocean. They start when wind ripples and these form wavelets and finally waves when the wavelets combine together.
2. What do you think a surfer should know about waves before they try and ride a wave while surfing? The surfers should have extensive knowledge about the wave heights, reefs, wave length,where and how they break, safezones and the intensity of the force before they even set foot into the water. This could enable them to have vital information about the break which could save their lives.

Question for the Video:

1. Observe all the waves that you see and describe how they form and break. Use as many words found in the segment for you descriptions. Most waves seen in the video are Mavericks which are created by the Wave Factory pushing waves together from a WNW direction which causes the waves to have a small rise and when they get closer to the shore, the waves are refracted into converging waves which become quite large when the waves hit the launching pad which are a group of rocks that intensify wave energy. The other waves seen are the ones near the Alaska Pole which are small but are numerous and these help create larger waves like the Maverick. The waves break when they lose energy and when the wave peak travels faster than the wave base and the waves break along with the energy they contain.
2. Describe how waves are formed, how they originate, and how they are measured? Waves are formed by wind blowing across the ocean, especially in areas closer to the Poles, such as Alaska. This helps create a large multitude of waves that sometimes when the weather climates are correct, corrects small or massive waves. The wave is created from natural wind energy where the wave's energy carries the wind energy with it all the way towards shore
3. What is a maverick wave and what is special about the way it is formed? The big wave (Maverick) is a huge 25 metre + set of wave(s) that appear and are created by the storms and winds from the Alaska Pole that is nicknamed the Wave Factory. The way they're formed is special because the wave becomes so big and lasts for about 20 seconds because the wave factory has pushed many waves together as this is the only place around the world where this happens.
4. How is energy stored and transferred during wave? Energy is stored when the wave grows, the energy transfers when it hits the ocean floor and bounces back up and makes the wave grow upwards that makes the waves bigger and 'spins' the particles as slowly goes down to the ocean floor and then back upwards.
5. List any kind of advice given by the surfers about how to survive these “big waves.” If you go to catch a big wave, you should attempt the jump on when the wave is building to its height. This will mean to you will not get caught on the wave as it is going down, therefore you don't smash yourself on the way down.  

7.3 Geographical Processes Shaping the Coastal Environment

Year 10: 7.2 Waves - Water on the Move

 

 Crest                                             Wavelength                                               Crest

                                                                                      Wave height
                                                                          Trough

Spilling Break -


 Spilling Waves
Break far from the shore on beaches with gentle slopes. The surf(white foam) gently rolls over the front so these waves are good for body surfing


Gentle Beach Slope

Plunging Breaker

Break on beaches where the slope is moderately steep. Board riders like these waves because of the tubes they form.

Shallow to intermediate beach slope

Surging breaker
Occur on very steep beaches. The waves roll up the steep face rather than breaking over it. They cause erosion

Steep Beach slope




                                                         
                                                                   Ripples                      Fully Developed        Changing                                                           
                                                                   to chop                      Seas                           to swell  
                                                                   to wind
                                                                   waves

                                                 Length of fetch                    
                                                                                                                                 Direction of wave advance


                                                          

            Path of wave particles                  Shallow depth shortens wavelength       SurfZone

            Deep Water                                                                     Surf Zone              Breakers 

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                 Beach

                                  

Year 10: 7.1 Geographical Issues in the Coastal Environment

1. The settlement pattern of Australia was largely based down the east and west coast. Due to the largely dense population down the coasts, issues such as population growth, pollution and tourism can become quite harmfull to the environment.

2. The pressure of urban development along the coastline has caused a range of georgraphical issues involving various groups. Residents, tourists and commercial-related activities all need to be managed by geographers so that the development of the cvoastline is sustainable.

3. Overdevelopment and rapid growth of coastal areas occur due to the current Australian trend for people to move from large cities to smaller coast towns and villages where the lifestyle is more relaxed. 'Seahange' is the name applied to this process.

4. Some towns along the east coast of Australia have imposed residential caps or a population ceiling for their town in an effort to stop overdevelopment of the area.

5. Population Growth - impose residential caps or a population ceiling for their town in an effort to stop overdevelopment of the area.

Coastal rivers/lagoons - Dredging the river entrance. This involves digging up earth at the mouth of a river to allow more freeflow in and out of the river.

Pollution - Strict rules and regular clean ups could help reduce pollution along the coast. Strict rules with hefty fines could also prevent a lot of polution.

6. Geographers bring knowledge to the development of coastlines. They alos have knowledge on the promblems which can help lead to the solution. With geographers involved, the community much benifits from their knowledge which can hopefully result to isses in coastal environments

7. Dear Newspaper,
As a resident of 30 years in our town I strongly dislike like the new coastline developments due to the fact they have taken up so much space on the beachside, they look unnappealing and they have eliminated various animals habitats. The space it has used means that myself, being a local, will no longer be able to go down to the beach and surf the local break by myself and instead will have to compete with tourists for waves. There is also no debate about the fact that the the buildings are not aestetical and definately don't fit in with the natural beauty of our area. I also happen to be a commited Environmentilist and I think that the eliminated vegetation can only be bad for the local ecosystem and I think this could be detremental to the Environment in the long run.

Although these points, admitedly I can see advantages in the development of the beach. They will increase the population capability because the tourists will be attracted to our area and the money that local business' recieve could be very beneficial to the local area so hopefully some of that money can go into keeping the Environment stable.

So overall I am still against these developments but I do understand that they could be beneficial to our town. I ask only that you preserve and protect as much of the environment as possible and try and make the developments more appealing to fit in with our surf centred town.

Sincerely Reagan.