Diffraction

Change in the directions and intensities of a group of waves after passing by an

obstacle or through an aperture whose size is approximately the same as the wavelength
of the waves.
Concept

Diffraction is the bending of waves around obstacles, or the spreading of waves by

passing them through an aperture, or opening. Any type of energy that travels in a wave
is capable of diffraction, and the diffraction of sound and light waves produces a number
of effects. (Because sound waves are much larger than light waves, however, diffraction
of sound is a part of daily life that most people take for granted.) Diffraction of light
waves, on the other hand, is much more complicated, and has a number of applications in
science and technology, including the use of diffraction gratings in the production of
holograms.

Diffraction is when a wave goes through a small hole and has a flared out
geometric shadow of the slit. Diffraction is a characteristic of waves of all types.
We can hear around a corner because of the diffraction of sound waves. For
instance, if a wall is next to you when you yell, the sound will parallel the wall.
The wall may stop, but the voice doesn't; sound will almost turn the corner of the
wall. This is diffraction.

Reflection is when waves, whether physical or electromagnetic, bounce from a

surface back toward the source. A mirror reflects the image of the observer.

Refraction is when waves, whether physical or electromagnetic, are deflected

when the waves go through a substance. The wave generally changes the angle
of its general direction.

Breaking water surface waves

Breaking waves at the village of Porto Covo, west coast of Portugal.

Breaking wave on a slope in a laboratory wave channel (movie)

Breaking of water surface waves may occur anywhere that the amplitude is sufficient,
including in mid-ocean. However, it is particularly common on beaches because waves
are amplified in the region of shallower water (because the group velocity is lower there).
See also waves and shallow water.

There are four basic types of breaking water waves. They are spilling, plunging,
collapsing, and surging.

Spilling breakers

In this type of wave, the crest undergoes deformation and destabilizes, resulting in it
spilling over the front of the wave. This wave tends to create a frothy appearance. It
occurs most often on gentle beaches, and is often a feature of 'onshore' wind conditions.

Plunging

Purportedly a rather dramatic form of break. The crest of the wave curls over and crashes
into the base of the wave, creating a sizable splash.

It tends to happen most often when the gradient of the sea floor is steep or from a sudden
change in depth (ie a rock ledge or reef). It is also a feature of breaking waves in offshore
conditions.

In surfing, a plunging wave is most commonly referred to as a 'tube' or 'barrel' or 'pit'.

These type of waves arise when the steep gradient of the sea floor or ledge is angular to
the approaching swell direction. Classic examples are the 'Superbank' in Queensland,
Australia (sandbank), Uluwatu in Bali (reef) and Pipeline in Oahu, Hawaii (lava rock
ledge).

Surging
On steeper beaches, a wave might advance up without breaking at all. It deforms and
flattens from the bottom. The front of the wave advances up towards the crest, creating
reflection.

Collapsing

Collapsing waves are a cross between plunging and surging, in which the crest never
fully breaks, yet the bottom face of the wave gets steeper and collapses, resulting in foam.

Tides are the cyclic rise and fall of sea surface heights due to the effect of the moons
gravity and less intensly the suns gravity.

Tides:
High Tide: The highest level of the sea surface
Ebb Tide: The time between high and low tide (The tide is going out)
Low Tide: The lowest level of sea surface height

Spring Tide: Tides that have the largest daily variance between high tide and low tide
due to the alignment of the moon aand sun as seen during full and new moons. Higher
high tides and lower low tides.

Neap Tide: Tides that have the least daily variance between high and low tides due to the
moon and sun being perpindicular to each other as during 1/4 moon and 3/4 moon. Lower
high tides and higher low tides.

Types of Tides:
Diurnal: 1 high tide and 1 low tide during a 24 hr. period

SemiDiurnal: 2 high tides and 2 low tides over a 24 hr. period

Mixed: Any tidal occurence that does not meet the requirement for diurnal or semidiurnal
tides. For example 1 high tide and 2 low tides over a 24 hr. period.

• Tidal classification of coasts (in coastal landforms (geology): Tides)

...metres. A simple but useful classification of coasts is based solely on tidal range
without regard to any other variable. Three categories have been established:
micro-tidal (less than two metres), meso-tidal (two to four metres), and macro-
tidal (more than four metres). Micro-tidal coasts constitute the largest percentage
of the world’s coasts.

Definition of Longshore current / Nearshore current:

The longshore current is the dominating current in the nearshore zone, it is running parallel to the
shore. The longshore current is generated by the shore-parallel component of the stresses associated
with the breaking process for obliquely incoming waves, the so-called radiation stresses, and by the
surplus water which is carried across the breaker zone towards the coastline[1].

rip current :

A strong, narrow surface current that flows rapidly away from the shore, returning the
water carried landward by waves. Also called rip tide, tiderip.

Beach cusps are shoreline formations made up of various grades of sediment in an arc
pattern. The horns are made up of coarser materials and the embayment contains all the
finer grain sediment. They can be found all over the world and are most noticeable on
shorelines with coarser sediment such as pebble beaches, however they can occur with
sediment of any size. They also nearly always occur in a regular pattern with cusps of
equal size and spacing appearing along stretches of the shoreline. These cusps are most
often a few metres long, however they may reach 60 metres across. Although the origin
of beach cusps has yet to be proven, once cusps have been created they are a self
sustaining formation. This is because once an oncoming wave hits the horn of a beach
cusp it is split and forced into two directions. The crashing of the wave into the cusps
slows its velocity, therefore causing coarser sediment to fall out of suspension and be
deposited on the horns. The waves then flow along the embayments (picking up finer
sediment) and run into one another in the middle. After this collision these waves attempt
to flow back out to sea where they are met by incoming waves. Therefore, once the cusp
is established coarser sediment is constantly being deposited on the horn and finer
sediment is being eroded away from the embayments [1]. This process causes the horns
and embayments to at least maintain their size, if not grow larger.

Formation
There are a number of theories as to why beach cusps are formed but currently, there are
only two explanations with any real credibility.
Standing Edge Wave Theory

Standing Edge Wave Theory

The standing edge wave theory is based on an interaction, near the shoreline, between the
waves that are approaching the shore and waves that have been set up perpendicular to
the shoreline called 'edge waves'. The regular arrival of incoming waves in the near shore
waters causes the development of waves perpendicular to the direction of the incoming
waves; these are termed 'edge waves'. These edge waves become trapped near the
shoreline and when two of them come together from opposite directions, a standing edge
wave is formed. The movement patterns of these waves are fixed and so can be defined
as two regions of interest, the nodal and antinodal points.

The antinodal point is where all the movement takes place as the water rises and falls,
creating a series of peaks and troughs. Between these antinodal points are the nodal
points where no vertical movement takes place. An incoming wave has an almost
uniform height but when it collides with a standing edge wave, this is changed. If it
collides with a peak, then the wave height is increased and if it collides with a trough,
then its height is decreased. In the diagram on the right, the two waves cancel each other
out creating a flat surface however this is a highly simplified version of events. The
incoming wave has the same wave period as the edge wave, so the incoming wave
changes from a peak to a trough over the same period as it takes the standing wave to
change so they keep the same pattern. These are known as synchronous waves and are
very uncommon.

The more common standing edge waves are subharmonic and these can have a wave
period twice that of the incoming wave. This produces a far more complex system of
waves as by the time the incoming wave has completed one cycle from peak to trough,
the standing edge waves have done two. So what started as the peak of a standing edge
wave within the trough of the incoming wave will change to a trough before the incoming
wave has changed so what was initially being given a boost in height now experiences a
drop. Essentially what this means is that there are a regularly-spaced series of peaks and
troughs along the length on the incoming wave that are caused by its interaction with the
standing edge waves and it is these that caused the development of beach cusps.
In areas where the wave height has been increased, the wave now has more power and so
can erode more and in areas where the wave height has been decreased, the wave now
has less power and so will not erode as much. This is what forms the cusps as the areas
with high erosion become the embayments of the cusp and the areas with low erosion
become the horns.

The problem with the standing edge wave theory is that it would only account for the
initial formation of the cusp and not their continued growth afterwards because as the
cusp increases in size the amplitude of the edge wave decreases to the point where it is no
longer a factor.

Self-organization

This theory was initially dismissed due to complications with it but by using more
advanced computer simulations, it has been developed to the point where it now provides
a reasonable alternative to the standing edge wave theory. The theory has two main
points that seek to explain the formation of regularly-spaced beach cusps.

The first is that positive feedback between the morphology of the beach and the flow of
the water creates relief patterns. On a flat beach, surface areas will develop with a slightly
lower relief than their surroundings. Areas with lower relief attract and accelerate water
particles, which means they have more energy and the area is eroded further. Through
positive feedback, the area becomes more and more eroded, and this creates the
embayment. The development of these areas of lower relief causes mean beach level to
be lowered and so areas that were initially on the level are now below the average and as
such, are now areas of higher relief. Areas of higher relief slow the water down and
sediment is deposited on top of them, which increases their impact. This creates the
horns.

The uniform spacing of cusps is caused by the communication of surface gradients along
the beach by the smoothing of the beach surface as the beach tries to rearrange itself to
reduce variations in the plane.

The second main point about the regular spacing of cusps is that negative feedback will
decrease the amount of net erosion and deposition within a well-formed cusp. As the
wave strikes the beach, it will first come into contact with the cusp horns, which will
slow the water down. This causes it to lose energy and some of the heavier sediment that
it is carrying will be deposited. The loss of this sediment, however, gives the water extra
energy and it uses this to remove sediment from the embayment on the backwash.

The problem with this theory is that this method of cusp formation would take time and if
you were observing their formation, then you would see a number of random cusps form
along the beach, which then slowly spread along the shore as they even out in size, with
small cusps joining together and larger cusps being separated in two. But in the field,
cusps form a regular pattern almost instantly and they all appear at the same time.