The surfer is faced with various kinds of waves and should understand them. One of the most important concepts here is that of refraction. From physics you may recall that refraction or refraction is the change in direction of wave propagation.
It is the refraction allows us to understand what happens when the biggest swells encounters shallow seabed.Simply put, the wave moves, bypassing the different depth of the bottom and therefore the portion of the water mass, which is in contact with the smaller area at the bottom, loses speed.
The rest of the wave continues to move at the same speed. It was at this point and the refraction takes place, i.e. volna is bent in the direction of the slow parts. At this point, all the wave energy is directed at the point where the wave meets a barrier and slowed down. Consider the kinds of waves and try to understand how they are affected by refraction.
Reefbreak
The reef break (Reef Break) – this is the spot where the wave rises up from the rocky bottom or coral reef.
Here the reef is surrounded by deep water, mid-wave meets the reef and slows down. At this time its extreme parts do not lose speed and wolni is bent to the center, and all its energy is concentrated there.
Such refraction is called focus (English, concave refraction). The result is a large and powerful waves.
Pointbreak
This type of wave occurs when a wave encounters a large area of land, much outstanding in the sea, for example, on a small Peninsula, Cape, or stone ridge. In this case, the wave also slows down at the point of contact and is bent to this point. But in this case the energy dissipation from this point on a large area. The phenomenon is called dispersion (convex refraction). Waves on pointbreaks (Point Break) usually are not as powerful, but long and capable of holding a form for a long time.
Beachbreak
Bitbrace(Beach Break) are formed when a wave meets the bottom banks (reclamation) and the shallows. On smaller plots of wave focusing and peak rises over deeper areas, by contrast, is declining. Due to the fact that the location of the cans is constantly changing, the quality of the wave also varies.
The beaches located between two headlands wave energy will be concentrated at the points of meeting of water masses with capes and scattered around the shore. This will give a very weak waves that are breaking down the entire length at once.
Leave a Reply