wind waves – Adventures in Oceanography and Teaching

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

mglessmer — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 06:11:56 +0000

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 clouds and blue skies and sunshine! Also I like how much more interesting wave pattern get if the wind comes in gusts rather than blowing […]

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From wind-driven capillary waves to gravity waves on a calm lake

mglessmer — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 16:10:13 +0000

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 below is actually interesting from a physics point of view. In the middle of the lake, the surface looks a lot rougher and crumpled than […]

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Wave watching in Kleinwaabs — and my first real Insta story!

mglessmer — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 13:05:19 +0000

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 are curious about what’s going on there, check out our Instagram account @geo.tag.der.natur that Kati is doing an amazing job with! As you can imagine, […]

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The wonders of a Wadden Sea. Or what someone addicted to #wavewatching thinks they are

mglessmer — Tue, 07 May 2019 13:05:39 +0000

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 godson and his family, and when my friend Frauke and I went to Sylt earlier this year, or when Frauke and I are going back […]

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Influence of wind and water depth on a wave field (or: a beach vacation in Dornumersiel)

mglessmer — Mon, 06 May 2019 13:05:42 +0000

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 pictures I took that day, I realized that not only was my hair parted on the wrong side because it was so windy (ha!), the […]

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A #friendlywaves from a field trip in a Norwegian fjord

mglessmer — Sat, 04 May 2019 13:05:11 +0000

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 admire the pictures and wish I had been there. And, of course, do a #friendlywaves — an interpretation of a wave field that a friend […]

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Night swimming… or at least night-time wave watching

mglessmer — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 21:15:52 +0000

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 the waves a) have a very short wavelength for their height, and b) are also all of the same wavelength. What I mean by that […]

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Wave watching: Refraction and diffraction of waves

mglessmer — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 13:20:42 +0000

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 it reaches the shallow shore. Above, you see the wake of the pilot ship, consisting of many wavelets that propagate as parallel wave crests towards […]

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When not the fetch but a funnel shapes the wave field

mglessmer — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 18:30:09 +0000

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 coming out of the Kiel-Holtenau locks into the Kiel Canal is making waves, but although those are pretty exciting, too, there are more things going […]

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Shelter from the storm

mglessmer — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 09:19:23 +0000

Shelter from the storm, no, shelter from the breeze. But we clearly see the sheltering effect of that boat shed on the wind waves… Same thing below. And wasn’t that a beautiful day :-)

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