Oceanography Learning Objectives and Study Questions
Chapter 8: Sverdrup and Kudela, 1st ed.
1. Using information on wavelength and depth, determine if a wave is a deep-, intermediate-, or shallowwater wave. Calculate the speed, or period of such a wave given appropriate information.
2. Predict how height of a wind-driven wave will change in response to variations in wind speed, wind
duration, and fetch.
3. Explain how sailors might gauge their distance from a storm center by measuring the range of wavelengths
they encounter on the open sea, and include the concept of dispersion in your answer.
4. Sketch changes in shapes of wave crests and rays produced by refraction as waves approach smooth or
rugged coastlines, and by diffraction as waves enter a harbor protected by a breakwater.
5. Predict whether a wave will break knowing its height and wavelength, and describe the roles that friction
and energy conservation play in causing waves to break as they move into shallow water.
6. Describe how standing waves differ from progressive waves, and cite one marine setting in which you might
expect to observe a standing wave.
7. Describe how the generation of tsunamis is fundamentally different from that of other types of waves, and
suggest how you might distinguish a tsunami from a "normal" wave on the open ocean.
1. For all except the smallest waves, the restoring force is _____.
A. surface tension
B. Coriolis effect
C. gravity
D. air pressure
E. friction
2. The time required for a wave to go through one cycle
of its motion is its _____.
A. frequency
B. steepness
C. wavelength
D. speed
E. period
3. Suppose a wave has a wavelength, L, of 20 m and period, T, of 120 s. What is its speed, C?
A. 0.167 m/s
B. 1.67 m/s
C. 6.0 s/m
D. 2,400 ms
E. indeterminate
4. A wave with L = 100m will behave as a deep water wave in water that is greater than ___ deep.
A. 5 m
B. 50 m
C. 100 m
D. 200 m
E. indeterminate
5. A deep-water wave with a period of 17.0 s will have a speed, C, of about _____.
A. 10.9 m/s
B. 17.0 m/s
C. 26.5 m/s
D. 451 m/s
E. indeterminate
6. Suppose that a wave with L = 100m is travelling across a bay that has an average depth of 4.5 m. What will
its celerity (speed) be?
A. 0.664 m/s
B. 6.64 m/s
C. 15.6 m/s
D. 66.4 m/s
E. 156 m/s
7. Which of the following does not play a major role in determining how high
wind-driven waves will be?
A. fetch
B. wind duration
C. atmospheric pressure
D. wind speed
E. all are equally important
8. Waves “break” when their steepness—H:L—is greater than about _____.
A. 1:10
B. 1:7
C. 1:2
D. 1:1
E. 7:1
9. Waves coming ashore will tend to behave as spilling breakers if the _____.
A. longshore current is especially strong
B. seafloor is especially rough
C. seafloor is gently sloping
D. seafloor is steeply sloping
E. wind is very gentle
10. Refraction tends to concentrate the energy of waves in/on _____.
A. bays
B. straight coastlines
C. promontories
D. river mouths
E. vulnerable cities
11. Diffraction tends to cause to a wave’s energy to be _____ after it passes through the opening in a
breakwater.
A. amplified
B. concentrated
C. dispersed
D. focused
E. unchanged
12. Tsunamis are generated by undersea earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions that displace seawater
_____.
A. aggressively
B. horizontally
C. repeatedly
D. spectacularly
E. vertically