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Helpful Definitions

Incident Wave - Waves approaching the shoreline at angles rather than perpendicular to the shoreline.

Wave - A disturbance caused by the movement of energy from some source through some medium. The disturbance can sometimes be viewed as a "hump" in the medium. The traveling "hump" produces the appearance of movement that we see as a wave.

Water Wave - A disturbance caused by the movement of energy due to wind forcing, volcanic activity or earthquake through water.

Wave crest - The highest part of a wave.

Wave trough - The lowest part of a wave.

Wave height - vertical distance between the trough and the crest of a wave.

Wavelength - horizontal distance between the successive crests of a wave.

Wave period - time interval between the passage of successive crests at a stationary point.

Wave base - maximum depth to which waves move the water; equals about half of the wave length.

Erosion Related Definitions

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