#WaveWatching
/weɪv wɒtʃɪŋ/ noun #WaveWatching is the practice of observing water or other fluids, and trying to explain any movement. #WaveWatching is great for several reasons: It is a powerful way of…
Category: wave watching
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Enjoy my collected wave watching pics of the last two or so weeks, including the first Swedish Nationals in Depth Freediving in a long time! :-)
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Some #WaveWatching pics from my Insta @fascinocean_kiel for our mental health…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
This is the 80th #WaveWatchingWednesday on this blog, recapping water pictures from my Insta @fascinocean_kiel! Funny how consistency accumulates stuff over time, imagine I was this consistent in other things…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
#WaveWatchingWednesday recapping a freediving weekend in Boalt, a work trip to Bergen and Voss with lots of dipping in both places, a freediving competition back home, and more dipping!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
It’s #WaveWatchingWednesday, and this is actually my 75th post in this series, recapping my wave watching pics from my Insta @fascinocean_kiel! For all of you new readers on my blog…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Welcome to #WaveWatchingWednesday with updates from my Insta! A lot of ice dipping this year, it’s wonderful! :-)
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Today’s #WaveWatchingWednesday with a recap of my recent trip to Norway. Enjoy!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Today’s #WaveWatchingWednesday is a recap of one of the most amazing experiences ever: A freediving trip to Dahab. Even though we have been back for more than a week now,…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
#WaveWatchingWednesday means here comes a repost of all my recent Insta posts! Enjoy :)
24 days of #KitchenOceanography — now available as a book!
For all of you who know and love my “24 days of #KitchenOceanography” series (and for those who need to quickly look up what that was about and then fall…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here is a recap of the last month or so of my #WaveWatching pics on Insta. Enjoy!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Wow, I am so bad at posting wave watching pics recently… Here is everything that happened on my wave watching Instagram @fascinocean_kiel in the last 10 weeks! Enjoy!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
I haven’t done a #WaveWatchingWednesday in 7 weeks — time flies when you are having fun! So here are the last 7 weeks of water Instagram pics from @fascinocean_kiel. Enjoy!
Total internal reflection
In the “static apnea” discipline in freediving, many cool pictures of athletes are taken underwater in a way that plays with the reflection of the athlete in the still water…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Shockingly little #WaveWatching currently happening on my Insta @fascinocean_kiel (maybe I also need to reconsider the name at some point?), but here are the latest pictures!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
This is a round-up of all my wave watching pics of the last three months of 2022. Clearly I have been busy in real life if I am that far…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here is a whole summer worth of #WaveWatching pics from my Insta @fascinocean_kiel. With a bit of meta commentary around it, because there are SO many pictures. Enjoy!
Sofia (almost 6) asks: How many waves hit the beach every day?
That’s a great question, Sophia! And one that is really difficult to answer. But I’ll try!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
It’s time for another #WaveWatchingWednesday, where I share all my #WaveWatching pics from my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel! Enjoy!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Happy #WaveWatchingWednesday with a repost of all of the last two week’s worth of pics that I posted on my #WaveWatching insta @fascinocean_kiel.
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Welcome to this #WaveWatchingWednesday, where I share pictures from my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Welcome to this #WaveWatchingWednesday: Lots of wave pics last week on my Insta @fascinocean_kiel!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Welcome to #WaveWatchingWednesday, my series in which I share my daily #WaveWatching pics from my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel to this blog!
Sunday morning #WaveWatching
After spending a good chunk of yesterday afternoon transferring #WaveWatching pictures from my Instagram into a blog post here, and wondering why I did not bother to write better captions…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
I know, it’s not even Wednesday today, but I have to get all the pictures out that have accumulated since the last #WaveWatchingWednesday post on January 19th! Because these days,…
Guest post by Chris Bore on #WaveWatching
Chris Bore is one of the most loyal readers of my blog and has been for a long time, and now he wrote a beautiful post about #WaveWatching over on…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
I just realised that the last time I posted #WaveWatching pics from my Insta @fascinocean_kiel was today a month ago, so I couldn’t wait until Wednesday… Please enjoy pics from…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Welcome to another #WaveWatchingWednesday, where I post all of last week’s #WaveWatching pics from my Insta!
#WaveWatching: Oslo to Bergen, more Bergen, and Voss
I’ve been posting over on my #WaveWatching Instagram @fascinocean_kiel and finally got around to copy&pasting all the pics over here. Enjoy catching up on what I’ve been up to!
Wave watching on the ferry from Kiel to Oslo!
So I took the ferry from Kiel to Oslo and obviously had to document (most of) the water I saw :-) And now I’m exhausted. Let’s see how much water…
“Evaluating shallow water waves by observing Mach cones on the beach” — guest post by Felipe Veloso on his recent #WaveWatching article!
Super excited to share a guest post today: Felipe is writing about his recent #WaveWatching article on “Evaluating shallow water waves by observing Mach cones on the beach”. I came across…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Each #WaveWatchingWednesday I’m surprised by how many #WaveWatching pics I manage to take & post to my Insta in a normal work week!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
All of the last two week’s #WaveWatching Insta pics in one place, for your viewing pleasure! :)
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here is a collection of #WaveWatching pics from my Insta @fascinocean_kiel! Enjoy!
My #WaveWatching featured in GEO Saison!
Remember I made this little wave watching foldy thingy a while back? The one you see in the lower right corner of the picture above? How cool is it that…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here are some recent #WaveWatching pics from my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel. Enjoy! :)
The ultimate guide to #WaveWatching, gooseling edition
I’ve been fascinated by gooselings recently, mainly because they are super cute. But I can tell you about what makes wave watching special when the waves are made by geese…
#WaveWatching as “transformative experience”? (Based on articles by Pugh et al. 2019, 2011, 2010)
I was reading an article on “active learning” by Lombardi et al. (2021), when the sentence “In undergraduate geoscience, Pugh et al. (2019) found that students who made observations of…
#WaveWatching: Wind & sheltering
For my dear friends, who are worrying because I didn’t post any #WaveWatching pics recently: I’m still here, and I’m still wave watching! :) For example on my lunch time…
An iEarth teaching conversation with Kjersti Daae and Torgny Roxå on #WaveWatching
iEarth is currently establishing the new-to-me format of “teaching conversations”, where two or more people meet to discuss specific aspects of one person’s teaching in a “critical friend” setting. Obviously…
A quick intro to #WaveWatching
I set up a german page with a very simple intro to wave watching and thought I’d repost the images below. The reason for that new page is super exciting:…
More cute baby geese making waves!
They are just too adorable for words! And a heron photobombing :)
Fun #WaveWatching today! Reflections all the way….and then the boundary suddenly ends!
You might remember this edge here and the reflection situation. More details in this recent post, but in a nutshell: The wave crests marked in red are approaching the beach…
Baby geese making waves <3
At the moment, I am doing almost daily trips to check up on the baby geese because they are just sooo cute! And growing up so quickly! Their waves are…
When you meet a hard boundary, the reflection starts
When I look at the picture above, I see basically three different zones on the surface of the lake. The yellow zone, which is under the direct influence of the…
All the things too investigate
Sometimes it’s not the prettiest wave watching pics that we can think about the most. Here, I really like how the petals that blew from the trees surrounding the lake…
Rotating foam disk
So you thought exciting wave watching can only happen near the ocean? That is so not true! Last weekend, for example, I spotted the round foam patch just downstream of…
My wave watching picture book for kids is out!
A wave watching book for beginners and those who appreciate the art and science of wave watching! Now available to order here or via any book store or online dealer…
Baby geese
These baby geese made me so happy on my run this morning! Even though they have to learn to swim a little faster and less messy for a nice wake…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
I didn’t post one of these since Februray, so it’s about time! These are all my #WaveWatching Insta posts since then!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Haven’t posted a #WaveWatchingWednesday in a while — but I am very regularly posting over on my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel. Check it out if you fancy a more regular supply of…
Using #WaveWatching and #KitchenOceanography to prepare students for a one-day research cruise
When students have only one day at sea, it’s important to prepare them well for what will happen there so they get the chance to make the most of the…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here are the most recent #WaveWatching posts I posted on my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel. Enjoy!
Published in Oceanography: How to Teach Motivating and Hands-On Laboratory and Field Courses in a Virtual Setting
One of the few “behind the scenes” shots of me taking #WaveWatching pictures! See the super awesome current right at my feet? :-D⠀ ⠀ Similar to kitchen oceanography, I believe…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Last #WaveWatchingWednesday of 2020 — this year’s final compilation of my Instagtam posts! Today with a lot of non-wave watching pics. But who doesn’t love some #KitchenOceanography?
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Welcome to #WaveWatchingWednesday! Here are some recent wave watching pics. Enjoy!
DIY #WaveWatching “fortune teller” on #WaveWatchingWednesday
(Download in English || Download in Spanish; thanks to Felipe Veloso for translating!) How about a little wave watching game to celebrate #WaveWatchingWednesday? The minute I saw Andrea Lopez Lang’s…
![[annotated photo] Photo of water flowing over a weir, annotated with arrows showing particle velocities](https://mirjamglessmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/FotG-300x168.jpg)
Testing the new particle tracking app “Flow on the Go”
The new particle tracking app “Flow on the Go” became available for testing on iOS yesterday. And it is SO AWESOME!!! The idea is that particle that are advected in…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
For #WaveWatchingWednesday, please enjoy a collection of water pics from my #WaveWatching Insta @fascinocean_kiel!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Even though I haven’t done a #WaveWatchingWednesday in a looong time, there has of course been a lot of wave watching going on. But the longer I wait with copying…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for a recap of my #WaveWatching Instagram! Check out nice pictures & some explanations behind the cut!
#WaveWatchingWednesday
It’s #WaveWatchingWednesday, and that means that you get all of last weeks wave watching Instagram posts compiled into one blog post. Enjoy!
#BergenWaveWatching: Field work right outside our students’ homes
This is a (admittedly terribly crowded — but I only had 1 A4 page and there are so many interesting #BergenWaveWatching stories to tell!) poster that I am presenting on…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Another week’s worth of #wavewatching Instagram posts all in one place for your viewing pleasure! :-)
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Welcome to another #WaveWatchingWednesday — all my wave watching Instagram pictures in one place! Read all about it (and look at a lot of pretty pictures!) below the cut.
#WaveWatchingWednesday
I haven’t posted a #WaveWatchingWednesday in quite some time, so behind the cut there are a lot of pretty pictures for you! Enjoy!
Marine energy: Tides. A guest post by Manel Camacho
Today’s guest post is brought to you by Manel Camacho. Manel and I met on Twitter and bonded over our joint love of wave watching — me as a dedicated…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
A week’s worth of #WaveWatching pictures for you. Enjoy! Starting off strong: I love living in Kiel! Totally different vibe the next morning, looking very winter-y somehow. And then another…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here are lots of wave watching post from my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel.de. Enjoy! More below the cut…
Wave watching in preparation of a guided tour! (Day 2)
Woke up at 4:11 this morning and was AWAKE. So the obvious thing to do is catch the sunrise from the bridge across Kiel canal! And I was lucky that…
Wave watching in preparation of a guided tour! (Day 1)
Had a really early start yesterday (today again, but those pics will come in a separate post :-)) because I wanted to cycle to the beach to prepare a guided…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Another week’s worth of wave watching posts on my Insta @fascinocean_kiel! See it all below the cut.
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Ooops, long time no see! But even though I haven’t posted a #WaveWatchingWednesday on my blog in a while, I’ve still been active over on Instagram. These are the last…
A #WaveWatching memory game for #SciCommChall
So I don’t know if this is a good idea that anyone would actually want to play with. But when I was visiting my sister last week, she was working…
Walk along the cliffline & beach in Stohl
About a week ago, I went on a lovely walk with my parents, and here are the pictures. How I love the beach! As I am looking more at ripples…
Irregular wave ripples, and some left on the beach when the water is gone
I’m getting more and more fascinated with wave ripples. I kinda understand how they form, but not enough to be able to explain as much about them as I would…
Birthday on the beach
After, at that point, more than two week of self-isolation in my flat with only my early morning walks away from the flat, and only runs with my friend J.…
Foam stripes and sand ripples
So you might have seen my novel on the formation of sand ripples last week, and the tl;dr: I have a vague idea of how sand ripples form, but it’s…
Rossby-#WaveWatchingWednesday
Several of my friends were planning on teaching with DIYnamics rotating tables right now. Unfortunately, that’s currently impossible. Fortunately, though, I have one at home and enjoy playing with it enough…
Such a pretty #friendlywaves!
My long time Twitter friend Anne shared these beautiful pictures and I absolutely had to do a #friendlywaves post where I explain other people’s wave pictures. Take a moment to admire…
Birds make for super interesting wave watching!
My perfect Saturdays start like this: Early morning walk along the water, followed by coffee while blogging about waves. Today’s focus: The cool waves that birds make! First, let’s look…
Sand ripples. Why do they form in the exact way they do?
It has been bugging me for a while that on days where there isn’t a lot going on in terms of regular wave watching, I often see ripples in the…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here is a picture dump of pretty pictures for you! All this happened over the last week over on @fascinocean_kiel! …
A #friendlywaves from Lofoten
A #friendlywaves post: you send me the pictures, I talk about physics! Today: My friend A sent me these lovely pictures from Lofoten, knowing I love wave watching. And there is…
THE WAVE at Boot Düsseldorf
It seems insane that back in January I voluntarily spent time at the “Boot”, a water sports trade show in Düsseldorf with over 250.000 visitors. I was there doing ocean scicomm…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
I didn’t post a #WaveWatchingWednesday last week because even though I had tons of pretty Instagram posts, most of them didn’t have any explanations going with them. But since this…
Broken water pipes
So yesterday this happened: When I was on my way to meet my friend for a run early in the morning, the whole pavement was flooded (look at the cute…
A beautiful #friendlywaves from Spain
A reader of my blog, Rocío*, sent me this beautiful image from Arnao beach (Castrillón- Asturias-Spain), and I asked if I could use it in a #friendlywaves post. He agreed, so…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Reposting all of last week’s posts from my #WaveWatching Instagram @fascinocean_kiel. Enjoy! Lovely morning with wave watching and all the trees in full bloom. Hope you have a nice day!…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here are all of last week’s #WaveWatching Instagram posts for you! If you would like daily wave watching pics rather than weekly digests, follow my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel! #wakewatching in a…
Guest post on “A little bit of lee wave math” by Jeannette Bedard
Today’s guest blogger Jeannette and I “met” on Twitter when she reposted one of my 24 Days of #KitchenOceanography posts, saying “A friend just forwarded me a #kitchenoceanography experiment that pretty…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Welcome to another #WaveWatchingWednesday post, where you get all of last week’s wave watching pics from my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel in one go! Let’s get started: Fascinating how different parts of…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
I didn’t write a #WaveWatchingWednesday post last week. I think when my last blogpost ended with the Oslo ferry leaving Kiel for the last time in the forseeable future, it…
WaveWatchingWednesday
Here is last week’s summary of my #WaveWatching Instagram @fascinocean_kiel. Social distancing in Kiel isn’t so bad… At least until I started to take it seriously enough to stay inside…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Recap of last week’s posts on my #WaveWatching Instagram @fascinocean_kiel! Starting off with two newts, because sometimes I actually look at stuff in the water, not just the waves on…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here’s another #WaveWatchingWednesday overview over my Instagram @fascinocean_kiel! Enjoy! Sun glint can be so helpful to make waves visible more clearly, like this morning. I love the combination of the…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Welcome to the recap of my #WaveWatching Instagram @fascinocean_kiel! Starting off strong: My standard #KitchenOceanography overturning circulation experiment (recognize the tank & the cool pad?) put into a very different…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Another week, another #WaveWatchingWednesday! Here are my collected Instagram posts from my wave watching Insta @fascinocean_kiel. Even quick glimpses of water make me happy: #WaveWatching from the train! And even…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Another recap of a week on my wave watching Instagram @fascinocean_kiel. Enjoy! Best thing for my mental health: Running along the waterfront. Bonus if it includes wave watching as it…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Here is another #WaveWatchingWednesday with last week’s recap of my wave watching Insta @fascinocean_kiel! Enjoy! Opening my mom’s fridge, I went „WHAT IS THAT SUPER AWESOME LAYERED SAUCE???“. Turns out…
#BergenWaveWatching: Rainbows!
Reposting from Elin’s blog here! — Kjersti, Steffi, Elin and myself (Mirjam) recently discussed ways to better integrate the GEOF105 student cruise into the course. My suggestion was to ask…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
Another summary post of my wave watching Insta @fascinocean_kiel! Enjoy! What is going on in the picture below? Just from looking at the picture I could only guess, but luckily…
#WaveWatchingWednesday
For #WaveWatchingWednesday: A collection of pictures that I took (and shared on my wave watching Insta @fascinocean_kiel over the last week. For some reason with a lot more commentary on here…
#BergenWaveWatching: “Remote sensing”
Reposting from Elin’s blog: Kjersti, Steffi, Elin and myself (Mirjam) recently discussed ways to better integrate the GEOF105 student cruise into the course. My suggestion was to ask the students…
Recap of my #WaveWatching Insta for #WaveWatchingWednesday
Yay! Another recap of my wave watching Insta! The year started off in the very best company — watching ships and waves and flowers with Astrid! But of course there…
#BergenWaveWatching: Bergen Harbour
Reposted from Elin’s blog: Kjersti, Steffi, Elin and myself (Mirjam) recently discussed ways to better integrate the GEOF105 student cruise into the course. My suggestion was to ask the students…
#BergenWaveWatching: On vibrating surfaces
Reposting from Elin’s blog: Kjersti, Steffi, Elin and myself (Mirjam) recently discussed ways to better integrate the GEOF105 student cruise into the course. My suggestion was to ask the students…
#BergenWaveWatching: Ruins of a wave power plant
Reposted from Elin’s blog: Kjersti, Steffi, Elin and myself (Mirjam) recently discussed ways to better integrate the GEOF105 student cruise into the course. My suggestion was to ask the students…
#WaveWatching Insta recap: December 2019
There was a lot of wave watching going on on my Insta @fascinocean_kiel this last December! Partly because I had decided that I wanted my feed to consist of both…
#BergenWaveWatching: Gutters and storm drains
Reposted from Elin’s blog: Kjersti, Steffi, Elin and myself (Mirjam) recently discussed ways to better integrate the GEOF105 student cruise into the course. My suggestion was to ask the students…
#BergenWaveWatching: Looking at waves from all sides in Lille Lungegårdsvannet
Reposted from Elin’s blog: Kjersti, Steffi, Elin and myself (Mirjam) recently discussed ways to better integrate the GEOF105 student cruise into the course. My suggestion was to ask the students…
#BergenWaveWatching: observing waves and tides on Storelungeren
Reposted from Elin’s blog: Kjersti, Steffi, Elin and myself (Mirjam) recently discussed ways to better integrate the GEOF105 student cruise into the course. My suggestion was to ask the students…
#BergenWaveWatching: observing the tides from a bus
Reposted from Elin’s blog: Kjersti, Steffi, Elin and myself (Mirjam) recently discussed ways to better integrate the GEOF105 student cruise into the course. My suggestion was to ask the students…
October #wavewatching: reposting my Instagram posts
My scicomm Instagram @fascinocean_kiel is back! As in it’s something that I am putting more thought into again. While it started off strong almost two years ago with daily posts…
#WaveWatching, beautiful jellyfish, miniature rip currents, double-diffusive mixing in a Latte
So today I spent a perfect day at the beach in Schilksee, at the mouth of Kiel Bight. Not a lot of wind (you see the gusts of wind further…
Watch how sediment is transported with the flow while surface waves above move in the same direction but much faster
When I was on my way down to Kiel fjord earlier this day I was in a bit of a weird mood. I was thinking about how the weather was…
Even on a no-waves day, Store Lungegårdsvannet is one of my favourite #wavewatching spots
I love how below you see the sharp edges of where the bridge’s shadow makes it possible to look into the water, when it is impossible to see anything where…
Lille Lungegårdsvannet
The geometric shape of Lille Lungegårdsvannet makes for perfect wave watching conditions. Not only when wanting to look at waves from all sides, but also when you are just fascinated…
Visiting a wave power plant on a no-waves day
You might remember earlier posts on a wave power plant I love to visit in Øygården, where it almost always looks like in the movie below (That movie is part…
Phase and group velocities in deep and shallow water
When Tor came to visit me in GFI’s basement lab a couple of days ago, he told me about an experiment he had seen in Gothenburg in the seventies. So…
The mystery of “51”, or: Tidal current at Straume Bru
My friend Pierre, who I went to Saltstraumen with in 2012, wrote me a text about a year ago and asked me to remind him to tell me about 51…
#wavewatching: Standing waves on coffee on a train!
When I wrote the blog post on “wave watching in a bucket” a couple of days ago, it strongly reminded me of a movie I had filmed already back in March…
Planetary Rossby waves — a side view
What I find really fascinating about the planetary Rossby wave experiment is to look from the side and see the columns develop and move around the tank. Here is a side-view…
Wave watching in a bucket
On the GEOF105 student cruise that I was lucky enough to join like I did last year, I happened to observe what you see in the picture above: Standing waves…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 16, in which I am almost home in Bergen
And now we have arrived in the part of Norway that, to me, feels like home rather than “oh wow, impressive landscape”. Even though the landscape is still impressive! But…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 15, in which the weather gets worse but the rivers more interesting
I love the little meandering river in the picture above! We are now approaching the west coast of Norway and all prejudices when it comes to weather over there are…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 14, in which we are in the snowy part of Bergensbanen minutt for minutt
And now we’ve reached the heights where there is fresh snow! And also where there are wild rivers. Don’t know which I find more exciting :-) Ok, yeah, it’s definitely…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 13, in which we start Bergensbanen minutt for minutt — the wave watching edition
While I was on the train from Oslo to Bergen for almost 7 hours, I sent a lot of pictures to my friend Kristin who had expressed an interest in…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 12, in which we arrive in Oslo
And here we are — at my favourite museum, the Fram museum! And I think I have in previous posts said all I can possibly say about the waves you…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 11, in which our wake meets another small island
And here we are again, driving past the next interesting structure. Above, you see our feathery wake (telling you that we are driving left-to-right past that bay). And below, I…
#puddlereflections in Bergen
Yes. Sometimes I kneel in front of puddles. And I think it was worth it!
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 10, in which our wake meets a tiny island
In the picture above, you see the waves that constitute our feathery wake *almost* reaching the little island (we are driving towards the lower right corner of the picture). And…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 9, in which we look at what the other ships do when they meet our wake
After all this wake watching, you probably noticed that the ferry I am on has a large wake. So it was fun to see how other boats changed their course…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 8, in which we do a lot of very cool #wakewatching
Now we have reached Oslofjorden. Look at our beautiful wake! Since the water is calm inside the fjord, we now also see another interesting feature of the wake: The waves…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 7, in which I find evidence for a rough night at sea
Remember how the morning was beautiful but windy? As I got up and saw how the sea spray was flying, I remembered having woken up during the night, noticing the…
The sun lights objects on Earth from the exact same direction as it lights the moon, and some wave watching
The sun lights objects on Earth from the exact same direction as it lights the moon (see a thought experiment on that here). So far so not surprising, at least…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 6, in which I watch a very windy sunrise
The next morning, even though I didn’t set an alarm and had an inside cabin, I woke up and got up exactly on time for this: But check out how…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 5, in which the weather turns bad again
Still the same evening as in the three previous posts, still windy, but now also getting overcast again. Still love our wake! And fun bonus in the sea full of…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 4, in which the sun comes back and the wind picks up
Just as quickly as it had gotten dark, the sun came out again. Love how the left side of the picture below looks like the colors are inverse with the…
Fløyen in the clouds
Yesterday, I went for a quick walk up Fløyen and really enjoyed it, despite the view being slightly different from what is usually shown on the postcards. Nice, some wake…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 3, in which we get bad weather
The weather forecast wasn’t too good for the crossing, so knowing that I was going to do some hard core wave watching anyway, I put on my full rain gear…
Bergen harbour wave watching
Oh look, someone built a perfect rectangular wave watching basin into Bergen harbour! As you see above, waves are propagating towards this little wave tank and into it. They then…
Some Bergen pics because this city is so pretty
Since it’s raining today (finally! I can’t be distracted by good weather all the time!) it’s time to post some Bergen pics! And yes, Kristin, they are all water-related. Sorry…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 2, where we look at sandbanks around Kiel
Sailing out of the Kiel fjord on a large ferry changes the whole perspective on the coastline. For example below, we see the lighthouse Friedrichsort which is located at the…
Kiel to Bergen, the mini series. Part 1, in which we do a lot of wave watching
I recently traveled from Kiel to Bergen by ferry and train, and instead of doing one single monster post about it, I thought I’d try a mini series format. Let…
Roll waves in Bergen
They might not look like much, but when I spotted these in the street this morning, I was super excited: Roll waves! I marked some of them below (just to…
Rossby waves in a rotating tank — three different demonstrations
For both of my tank experiment projects, in Bergen and in Kiel, we want to develop a Rossby wave demonstration. So here are my notes on three setups we are…
Strong gusts of wind -> lots of energy transferred to the water -> wind waves with large amplitudes
We are still in the “interesting weather” period here in Kiel. Feels more like April than like September, but I am not complaining. I love the rapid change between dark…
April weather in September (Great for #WaveWatching and cloud watching!)
Minutes after drawing the illustration to the “you are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop” quote I shared yesterday in the most beautiful…
#WaveWatching in Strande (supported by a seagull!)
Even though I’ve been looking at waves for years now, wave watching is still full of surprises. Yesterday I showed you capillary waves that a jellyfish made, and today I’m…
Jellyfish and capillary waves
Sometimes the best wave watching doesn’t happen how you expect it to happen. Look at this jellyfish, bobbing about in the surface of Kiel fjord. Can you spot the circular…
Concave sea wall focuses waves into interesting pattern
Early morning Kiel fjord — today even featuring a hot-air balloon! But, more interestingly, the wake of this police boat. I find it already pretty cool in the picture below:…
Observing the shape of shallow water waves on a beach
When I go wave watching back home in Kiel, I tend to be drawn to other places than this particular one, but sometimes you find gold in the places you…
From wind-driven capillary waves to gravity waves on a calm lake
The picture above I thought was too pretty to not put on my blog (because my blog’s main function to me is still my personal brain dump), but the picture…
Morning and evening #wavewatching in Ratzeburg, including sun dogs!
I’m super excited to be back in Ratzeburg, but before I start on all the new pictures I will be taking over the next couple of days, let’s get some…
Involuntary #dropphotography today
When I decided that I was going to stop under a tree for a while to let the shower of rain pass before heading home, the weather looked like this.…
Seeing the world with different eyes
My not-so-new-anymore job, GEO-Tag der Natur,’s goal is to help people see nature around us through different eyes. In order to enrich people’s lives, but also in order to encourage…
Walk to & visit at GEOMAR as wave watching occasion
These very long and regular wave crests were caused by a ship — they are one side of the V of a ship’s wake that’s about to reach the sea…
Lake District #wavewatching
The first wave watching during our vacation in the Lake District (which I am only writing about now because I had to post about the amazing stuff at the coast first,…
Crabs in the grass — tides in Ulverston
I hope you saw my post on the Arnside tidal bore and are well aware of the awesome tides in Morecombe Bay (if not, check it out here!), so here…
Wake watching at Ratzeburger Segelschule
The waves that ducks (or ships, or anything else moving through water) make are called “wakes”. And wake watching is so much fun! A wake is pretty much the Mach…
Fantastic wave and current watching at Piel Island
We saw Piel Island with a very cool castle ruin across the bay when visiting the South Walney Nature Reserve the other day, and were intrigued by it. Depending on…
Tidal bore in Arnside
Does that warning sign above (that I showed as a teaser in yesterday’s post on wave watching in and around Arnside) make you as curious as it made me? Usually,…
Wave watching in and around Arnside
Arnside is a beautiful little town on the banks of the river Kent, and Astrid and I went on a nice hike along the shores of the estuary a little…
The perfect wave — and why this is not a fake image
This picture might look fake, but it’s not. But what about it does scream “fake!”? To me, there are several things: the almost perfect sinusoidal shape of the waves the way…
Watching the tides cause an hydraulic jump in the Irish Sea!
Looking at the picture above, taken in the South Walney Island Nature Reserve on our walk yesterday, what is the first thing you notice? For me, it is not the…
Astrid sent me a #friendlywaves from Whitstable for remote #wavewatching
Astrid, #wavewatching supporter from Day 1, sent me these pictures for a #friendlywaves post. Today, I want to start with a spoiler picture (or, rather, I did start with a…
A #friendlywaves from Tampa, Florida
Anyone who might be new to my blog because of yesterday’s presentation at #SiPManc — please don’t be scared and run away, this is the most complicated #friendlywaves I have…
What #wavewatching means to me. My presentation at #sipmanc
Did you miss my talk at the Science in Public conference in Manchester? Well, you are in luck — here it is! Three years ago, I visited my sister and her…
Some #wavewatching in Manchester
I’m in Manchester for Science in Public 2019 and I couldn’t help myself, I had to do some wave watching. To be fair, though: These pictures really don’t do Manchester justice…
Some #friendlywaves from Berlin
My friend Alice is currently in Berlin, and as one does when visiting Germany’s capital city: She’s wave watching! I can only say: I approve! That’s what I always do…
#DayOfTheSeafarer — #WakeWatching on Kiel fjord
I’ve been on my fair share of ships over the years, but even though I enjoy my month or two at sea every year, I cannot even begin to express…
A pilot ship making waves, and what happens to the waves over time
This is the story of a pilot ship, merrily sailing along on a beautiful day, making waves. Since it’s windy and Kiel fjord is a little choppy, the waves break…
Wave watching on Schwentine river
Surprise! I did some wave watching yesterday! Ok, let’s start with something simple to warm you up: A duck’s wake. And wind waves (coming in from the top right) hitting…
Wave watching on Brodowinsee
What do you do the night before the most important three days of your whole work year? Yep — some wave watching with friends! On Thursday night, we went to…
Wave watching in Kleinwaabs — and my first real Insta story!
So today (and tomorrow and the day after) is the big event that I have been working towards all year in my not-so-new-anymore job: The GEO-Tag der Natur! If you…
Watching a V-shaped wave widen over time
Yesterday we looked at a very cool wake that Nena sent in as a #friendlywaves, today I have a nice gif for you to illustrate one of the points that…
Nena sent me some #friendlywaves from Lago Maggiore
This is a #friendlywaves challenge, where I try to explain other people’s wave photos and they tell me how I did. I love it when my friends see waves, think…
GEO-Tag der Natur making waves on Parsteiner See.
Remember I did this for work? We ended up with pretty cool pictures, like this one: And as I was standing in the water, guess what I was doing? Taking…
Feathery wake approaching! #WaveWatching in Kiel Holtenau
A week ago already, Frauke and I went on an evening walk in Kiel Holtenau. Beautiful wave watching to be done there as always! Here you see the one side…
On #WorldOceansDay, revisiting one of my favourite places to wave-watch: a broken wave power plant
Anyone who has ever read my blog, seen my Instagram, or met me in person knows: The ocean is hugely important for me. The ocean is important for my mental…
Wave watching in an end moraine lake in Brodowin
On our work trip to Brodowin to prepare the GEO-Tag der Natur (which will take place here only a little more than a week from now! Crazy!), I had the…
Observing a breeze making waves on Parsteiner See
Yesterday, I happened to be at Parsteiner See for work. At first, the sea was completely calm and the only waves were the ones we made doing our photo shoots,…
Wave watching in front of the Reichstag. That’s my kind of sightseeing!
Did you notice that most tourist ships on the Spree in Berlin don’t actually have nice bow waves? Luckily I found one that does! (see above) Because what then happens…
Atmospheric & water wave watching
What I find really fascinating about watching waves in the atmosphere rather than on water is that all the waves that become visible are not surface waves like on water,…
Rainy day wave watching on Kiel fjord: diffraction, wind effects, a wake, and more rain
On Thursday I went on a “let’s go for a walk, but if it starts raining too much, we’ll just go have coffee” trip with a friend to the east…
Wind-driven waves in natural flumes for #flumefriday
On a bike tour with my friend Frauke in Greetsiel two or three weeks ago, she pointed out how well one could see that the waves on the puddles left…
Ships displace huge amounts of water, and it doesn’t come back immediately when they are gone!
Last weekend, while wave watching at one of my favourite spots, I observed something curious. Look at the movie below, this is what the turbulent wake of a ship usually…
Surface roughness, fetch, capillary waves
Talking about capillary waves the other day, I thought I’d show you some more pictures of them. Today not in a close up, but rather their overall effect on surface…
Some port of Kiel #wavewatching: A feathery wake getting fanned out and bunched together!
Wakes are always interesting to watch. But usually, I am showing wakes of ships going straight ahead. So today, I have something cool for you: The wake of a ship…
Sunday #wavewatching. Shallow water waves, deep water waves, #wakewatching, reflections, refractions, and more.
This is the blogpost I wanted to write today before I got distracted by all the adventures on MS Stadt Kiel with sightseeing and swing dancing and all the good stuff…
Spontaneous adventures are the best! Today involving a trip on a historic ship, some sight seeing on Kiel fjord and a bit of Lindy Hop
I’m lucky to have great friends like Alice, who was spontaneous enough to go on a mini cruise with me today (for which I was only given tickets when I…
Gravity waves and capillary waves on Kiel fjord
Yesterday, I took some pretty pictures of a red balloon floating on Kiel fjord, some seagulls swimming close to it, and — of course, most importantly — the seagull’s waves.…
Muddy water watching on my lunch break. Turbulence and all the good stuff!
This might not be the kind of water that people usually like to look at during their lunch break — I admit, it does not look particularly inviting. But look…
Dirty drainage ditch or a natural flume for fluid dynamics fun? You decide!
At first glance, the picture above might not look too appealing. Dusty, almost stagnant water in a drainage ditch? Ok, the dust might actually mainly be pollen, which makes it…
Making waves and watching them disappear
Happiness is: Making waves, watching them spread, watching them disappear. Here, you see waves that I made by gently rocking a small row boat. You see them radiating away from…
A #friendlywaves from Cyprus
My friend Alice (of the awesome Instagram @scied_alice and the equally awesome blog, which you should totally follow) sent me a #friendlywaves from her trip to Cyprus. She said that this was a…
When commuting is actually enjoyable. #wavewatching
What I love about my job (in addition to the awesome job itself, obviously)? That my office is located in pretty much the coolest spot in Hamburg when it comes to…
Hijacking other people’s “good morning!” tweets to talk about a duck’s wake
A beautiful picture: the pink sky, purple clouds, a peaceful channel flowing in between lush greens that the calm water surface mirrors back, a bridge somewhere in the background, connecting…
Spotting both the V-shaped and turbulent wake of a faraway ship on a calm day
The title says it all, I guess ;-) In the picture above, you can still see the ship on the left, and having seen the ship, I am sure you…
Determining the slope of sea surface via the reflection of a structure
(Disclaimer: The physics the title refers to are somewhere in the second half of the blog post when I am done rambling) In case you are wondering why I am…
The wonders of a Wadden Sea. Or what someone addicted to #wavewatching thinks they are
As someone living on the German Baltic Sea coast, I don’t spend a lot of time on the North Sea coast (except, actually, my week-long vacation after Easter with my…
Influence of wind and water depth on a wave field (or: a beach vacation in Dornumersiel)
I took the selfie above mainly to send to my mom from my vacation in Dornumersiel on the German North Sea coast. But then when looking through the hundreds of…
Reflections in waves
After doing a #friendlywaves post from a Norwegian fjord yesterday, let’s do another one from somewhere south of Bergen, by my friend Arnt. Very different mood today! What I find…
A #friendlywaves from a field trip in a Norwegian fjord
The other day, my friend and co-author Pierré sent me pictures he took during fieldwork in a Norwegian fjord. As I, sadly, wasn’t there, all I can do now is…
Saturday morning #wavewatching
So the main reason I got up early today and went for a run was because when I woke up and checked the weather forecast, it said that it would…
Same beach, different waves. Why?
Here is a puzzle for you. Walking along a beach, first, the waves looked like this: One wave breaking at a time. That’s the situation you also see in the…
Who can explain these foam stripes? No, it’s not Langmuir circulation
You see them a lot here on Kiel fjord when it’s windy, and this is what they looked like last Saturday: Foam stripes than run parallel to the coast for…
Early morning wave watching. Nothing quite like it :-)
Occasionally working from home is awesome for many reasons, but mainly because I can use the time usually spent on commuting on … wait for it … wave watching. With…
Windy days at Holtenau locks: Now THAT’s a turbulent wake!
Now that the weather is nice and sunny again, here is what it looked like only last Saturday. It wasn’t even really stormy, but windy enough so that the ships…
Wave watching at Kiel Holtenau locks
On Sunday, I set out to see a large cruise liner go through the locks at Kiel Holtenau. What happened, though, was that a ship with a smiley painted on…
Early morning Kiel fjord #wavewatching with the help of condensation trails
When it’s all foggy and there are hardly any waves, sometimes help comes from the most unexpected places. Today: condensation trails that are reflected on the water! Isn’t it interesting…
Interesting pilot ship #wavewatching at Kiel canal
Some throwback Friday evening wave watching (at the locks at Kiel Holtenau with my friend Sara for a nice and relaxing end of the week) to start the new week.…
Towards the raising sun, leaving behind a perfect wake
Do you see the half circle waves connecting the “feathers” of the feathery V-wake? I love wave watching in the early morning, this light is just the best!
A tiny waterfall, super- and subcritical flows, submerged hydraulic jump, standing waves. What more could anyone want?
Last stop on my work trip that — apart from doing important work, obviously — brought me to Berlin for some wave watching and to Brodowin to look at beaver…
Sightseeing in Berlin? Any excuse for a #wavewatching trip!
Berlin is full of interesting history to discover … for example that of ships that have gone past on the Spree! :-D Let’s start with some easy wave watching. In…
You are watching seals? I am watching waves!
On a recent evening stroll with a friend, the seal basin looked like this: “Do you think there are any seals in there today?” she asked. “Why yes, of course,…
Wake comparisons: Row boat and motor boat
I just love this picture: The two boats in the front are going at the same speed (the trainer is driving right next to the person in the row boat…
Night swimming… or at least night-time wave watching
Looking at Kiel fjord in the picture below, it is quite obvious from the shape of the waves that those waves are some ship’s wake. Why is that obvious? Because…
Roll waves in the sand dunes? Observing erosion
On our trip to the west coast yesterday, I observed something really cool: Sand roll waves (I think!) in the sand dunes! But before I get to that, this is the…
Wave watching from a train
You know how they say that the journey is the destination? That was certainly the case for my spontaneous mini-vacation yesterday (and how awesome is it that my #BestTravelBuddy is…
A different kind of drop photography today…
After all the professional drop photography I talked about yesterday, here is some of my own from a walk that I took after the amazing and slightly overwhelming experience of…
Intriguing interference pattern of waves
Do you see those weird traces going away from us, perpendicular to the wave crests, but in parallel to the bright stripes on the sea floor (I talked about those…
Wave watching by proxy — looking at how waves focus light on the sea floor
What is it that we actually look at when we go wave watching? Water is pretty much clear (or at least it is in the spots where I like to…
Wave watching at the locks in Kiel Holtenau
Yes, we are back to wake watching! Today I went to a new-to-me wave watching spot: The bridge across Kiel canal close to the Holtenau locks, which you see in…
Wakes by birds, a row boat, and a SUP board
After talking a lot about turbulent wakes this week, here are two pictures of different kinds of wakes. They are of course turbulent, too, but on a very different scale.…
Visiting my friend’s office for some #wavewatching
Since we seem to be on the topic of wake watching these days, here are some pictures I took when visiting my friend Liz at the European Cruise Service’s offices…
#wakewatching seems to become a thing for me
Usually I look at wakes when ships are long gone, or at least leaving. Today, let’s look at one where the ship is coming towards us and we see how…
Turbulent wake watching
Yesterday I wrote about why a ship’s turbulent wake stays visible for such a long time after the ship has gone. Here just more pictures of the same phenomenon because…
Why does a turbulent wake stay visible for such a long time after the ship has gone?
Speaking of wake watching, the other day I wrote about long distance wave watching in the sunset, i.e. what kind of things one can deduce on surface roughness (and its…
Is #wakewatching the new and improved #wavewatching?
It all began when I spotted a wake (the feathery, dark line going across the water behind that boat house) and decided I needed to show the world how cool…
Reflecting waves, reflected and refracted light, and a Fata Morgana
How much physics can you spot in a single picture? What I see here: Waves and their reflection on the sea wall (Do you see the two main fields? One…
Long-distance wave watching during sunset
Have you ever noticed how much you can observe when you look at water from a distance? For example in these pictures, you see the tracks of ships that are…
Fascinating how the same body of water can show up in so many different colors at once!
Stupid as it sounds, one of my favourite wave watching spots in Bergen is a busy bridge with a view onto another busy bridge. But the bridge goes across a…
#wavewatching in the sky
On Elin’s student cruise (read more about that here) very nice wave watching was to be had, both on the water as well as in the sky. In the picture…
Commissioned wave watching: Eckernförde edition on a beautiful calm and sunny Sunday!
Recently, more and more of my friends send me pictures of waves they spotted when walking along a lake side or taking a ferry ride. I love how contagious wave watching…
Forget about big waves, today we are focussing on the details!
Today we are focussing on tiny waves right near the shore inside the sheltered harbor. See how below there are two wave fields, one with longer waves with crests that…
More wave watching, this time in Kiel
Beautiful morning arriving back in Kiel… Looking downwind, the weather might seem pleasant (especially when focussing on the sunrise). But looking upwind however, the wind rows on the water as…
Sunset wave watching in Gothenburg. Wakes under different light conditions!
Wave watching from high up gives you a whole new perspective on wakes, and depending on the lighting, features in the wave field become more prominent or fade away. See…
Wave watching on Kiel Canal: Bulbous bows and how they shape the wave field
Even when I fully intend to just go for a Saturday afternoon walk to catch up with a friend, this is what happens… I get distracted by waves. Like the…
Minimal distractions from #wavewatching on a foggy Sunday morning in Kiel
I’ve been wondering. Are foggy mornings where all you can see are waves (and a couple of seagulls) opportunities on which everybody else sees the world like I always see…
I see a new hashtag in my future #oceanographyofpuddleswithreflectionsofElbphilharmonie
There is a theme these days: one of Hamburg’s most famous sights, the concert hall called Elbphilharmonie. And not only is it a pretty impressive buildings, it’s located right at…
Here is to new beginnings!
From dawn til dusk (which wasn’t actually as long a time as it sounds ;-)), first day in my new job as programme manager of the citizen science project on…
Where has all the water gone?
You might have noticed that in today’s first post there was a lot less water in the Kiel fjord than in yesterday’s post (starting this year strong on the blogging front! I…
Ferry sailed past, wake perpendicular to wind. Cool interference pattern!
Guess the title says it all today ;-) Just kidding. Below you see a movie of a neat interference pattern I observed this morning. The situation is similar to yesterday in…
When the ferry has long sailed past and the waves start appearing out of the fog…
Ending 2018 in style and exactly the way I want to continue in 2019: wave watching and dipping into Kiel fjord! 2018 has been an exciting year and a lot…
Visiting the ruins of a wave power plant — waves running up a funnel to fill a reservoir
Using wave energy to generate electricity sounds very attractive, after all there are tons of waves and all they do (in addition to looking pretty) is eroding coast lines. But…
Visiting the ruins of a wave power plant — waves driving a turbine
After posting about how longer fetch leads to higher waves yesterday, here is why I was in that exact spot in the first place: To visit an old wave power…
Same wind, different waves, or: the influence of fetch length on the size of waves
I just found this picture that I took back in May near my friend Elin’s cabin on an island in western Norway, and it’s a really nice illustration of how…
Mystery picture! Can you solve this wave riddle?
Today is a great day for a wave riddle! Below you see a picture I took on my walk home the other day. Can you tell what caused those waves? (Solution…
Thinking about the Doppler effect as of a boat sailing against the waves!
I can’t believe I haven’t written about this on my blog before, thanks Markus Pössel for reminding me of this great way to understand the Doppler effect! Doppler effect, or…
The first autumn storm and its impact on dye tracer and water level
Last night it rained a lot. So the first thing to do this morning was to check what that had done to my green lake! The dye is now a…
Wave reflections
This still is one of my favourite kinds of wave field to look at. So calming. (Who am I kidding. All waves are my favourite waves, of course! I am…
Wave watching: Refraction and diffraction of waves
A little more wave watching, today with a focus on how waves change direction when they run into shallow water. Let’s look at this beautiful wave and see what happens when…
Wave watching as official part of the program of a conference on chemistry and physics education!
Yes, you read that correctly. The German Society for Chemistry and Physics Education (GDCP)’s annual conference started out with a 2 hour cruise on Kiel fjord, during which the participants…
Wave watching: A wake, another wake, and a mystery wave
And we are wave watching again! A ship’s wake and the different zones within Here is the wake of the little ferry that goes across Kiel canal. I love how…
Wave watching at the Kiel Holtenau locks
So many people are surprised when I speak of wave watching as of a “real activity”. But to me it is! So I am going to talk you through a…
When not the fetch but a funnel shapes the wave field
As you know we are currently preparing for future wave riddles. So this afternoon I went out for a wave hunt again and found something beautiful for you! The ship…
What makes and destroys waves
Today I have a couple of photos for you to prepare you for upcoming wave riddles. Since, in those riddles, I usually ask what might have caused the wave on…
Seal watching
It’s not so super common that I get to see seals in the wild, so bear with me today: I have to share some pics!
Swan in sunrise
I never thought I would ever say this, but somehow these early morning runs are growing on me…
Best investment into my mental health?
Joining a local club that gives me access to this whenever I like…
I love lighthouses <3
I love lighthouses. And here I am showing you a couple of pics of one of my favourite lighthouses: The one at Lotseninsel on the Baltic Sea coast. I spent…
Playing with water
Sometimes playing with water is all you need to make you happy. Like on this gorgeous day last December at Möhne Reservoir, the largest artificial lake in western Germany: That…
Blog post no 500 or: My book has just been published! #superproud
I wrote “Let’s go wave-watching! Discovering oceanography on every stroll” (available in both german and English!) for my god-daughter Pauline and her parents. Pauline wasn’t even six months old then, but…
Summer holidays! :-)
This summer, I went sailing the way I used to when I was still a teenager: At Ratzeburger Segelschule. And because I had such a great time, I have to share…
Help me name my book!
If you like my blog, you will LOVE my book. It’s an alternative travel guide: Instead of talking about sights you can see when you visit a city, I am talking…