One of the most difficult #friendlywaves I’ve ever gotten! Did I get it right?
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…
Tag: wake
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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!
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Feathery wavelets and wakes
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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
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…