wake Archives - Adventures in Oceanography and Teaching

One of the most difficult #friendlywaves I’ve ever gotten! Did I get it right?

August 25, 2020

Florian sent me a #friendlywave — a wave picture he took, with hopes that I might be able to explain what is going on there. And this one had me puzzled…

Birds make for super interesting wave watching!

May 16, 2020

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…

A #friendlywaves from Lofoten

May 11, 2020

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…

Strong gusts of wind -> lots of energy transferred to the water -> wind waves with large amplitudes

September 8, 2019

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…

Observing the shape of shallow water waves on a beach

August 18, 2019

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…

Wake watching at Ratzeburger Segelschule

August 2, 2019

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…

A #friendlywaves from Tampa, Florida

July 13, 2019

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…

Some #friendlywaves from Berlin

July 5, 2019

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…

Watching a V-shaped wave widen over time

June 13, 2019

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

June 12, 2019

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…

Some port of Kiel #wavewatching: A feathery wake getting fanned out and bunched together!

May 27, 2019

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…

A #friendlywaves from Cyprus

May 15, 2019

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

May 13, 2019

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

May 12, 2019

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

May 11, 2019

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…

A #friendlywaves from a field trip in a Norwegian fjord

May 4, 2019

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…

Windy days at Holtenau locks: Now THAT’s a turbulent wake!

April 16, 2019

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

April 10, 2019

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…

Interesting pilot ship #wavewatching at Kiel canal

April 8, 2019

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

April 7, 2019

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!

Sightseeing in Berlin? Any excuse for a #wavewatching trip!

April 3, 2019

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!

March 30, 2019

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

March 26, 2019

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…

Wave watching from a train

March 6, 2019

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…

Wave watching at the locks in Kiel Holtenau

February 28, 2019

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

February 28, 2019

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

February 27, 2019

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

February 26, 2019

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

February 25, 2019

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?

February 24, 2019

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?

February 23, 2019

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

February 23, 2019

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

February 16, 2019

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…

More wave watching, this time in Kiel

January 15, 2019

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!

January 14, 2019

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

January 6, 2019

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…

Ferry sailed past, wake perpendicular to wind. Cool interference pattern!

January 1, 2019

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…

December 31, 2018

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…

Wave watching as official part of the program of a conference on chemistry and physics education!

September 17, 2018

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

September 15, 2018

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

September 12, 2018

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…

Feathery wavelets and wakes

August 18, 2017

My sister took this amazing picture — and from a train no less! And I got super excited. Can you see the feathery wavelets* of the bow wave of that large…

Wake of the Stena Germanica — what’s going on there?

July 20, 2017

After having talked about wakes quite a bit recently, I’m going to show you a couple more pics today (bit not as many as I did two days ago, sorry!…

More wakes

July 18, 2017

And now you thought I was done showing you wakes? Ha, I was not nearly done! I told you, watching waves makes me happy :-) And from Stena Germanica’s sun…

Wakes and what they do to the sun’s reflection

July 11, 2017

When I said that wake watching made me happy last week, did you really think those were all the wakes I was going to show you? Ha! No, I have…

Reflected wake

July 6, 2017

The best ship-watching of the year happens during Kiel Week (even if I do a fair bit of ship-watching year round ;-)) But this year, I was absolutely fascinated with…

Reflected wakes

May 23, 2017

When a ship has sailed past, at first you see only its wake. And then you see reflected bow waves interfering with the original wave pattern: See?

Wakes of ducks

April 11, 2017

I really like observing the wakes of ducks. Much easier to watch than those of ships because the scale is much more person-standing-on-the-sea-wall friendly. Also much less turbulence messing up the…

Awesome wake of high speed catamaran

September 15, 2016

This post has been in the making for a very very long time. I have now decided to stop overthinking and just share the movie with you, because who wouldn’t…

If waves spread equally in all directions, then how come we see linear wakes?

April 19, 2016

If waves spread equally in each direction along the water’s surface, then how come ships (or ducks) have wakes that are just those long lines of waves and not circular at…

Reading the water

April 22, 2014

Just because it’s fun! :-) I’ve mentioned before that I tend to stare at water when nobody else seems to find anything interesting to look at. So just because I’m…

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