Definition The deviation of the height of the ocean surface from the geoid is known as the ocean surface topography. The geoid is a surface on which the Earth’s gravity field is uniform. The ocean surface topography is caused by ocean waves, tides, currents, and the loading of atmospheric pressure. The main application of ocean surface topography is for the determination of large-scale ocean ci...

The breaking of wind-generated waves plays a significant role in the exchanges of momentum, heat, water vapour, and gas between the atmosphere and the ocean. Breaking waves entrain air into the surface water forming bubbles, which manifests itself as a whitecap on the ocean surface. Whitecap measurements in the open ocean are sparse and are limited to Monahan and Muircheartaigh, (1980), the war...

Interactive sonification can provide a platform for demonstration and education as well as monitoring and investigation. We present a system designed to demonstrate the facilities of the UK’s most advanced large-scale research wave tank. The interactive sonification of water waves in the 'ocean basin' wave tank at Plymouth University consisted of a number of elements: ocean wave generation, acq...

Interacting ocean surface waves force water column pressure fluctuations with spectral peaks at the same frequencies of primary microseisms (PM), double-frequency microseisms (DF), and seismic hum. Prior treatment of nonlinear ocean wave interactions has focused on the DF pressure fluctuations which, in the presence of opposing waves, do not decay with depth and hence are dominant in deep water...

An analytical expression is derived for the temporal coherence of an acoustic field after multiple forward scattering through random three-dimensional (3D) inhomogeneities in an ocean waveguide. This expression makes it possible to predict the coherence time scale of field fluctuations in ocean-acoustic measurements from knowledge of the oceanography. It is used to explain the time scale of aco...

One of the most successful applications of satellite-borne radar altimeter data over the oceans in recent years has been the extraction of information about long-wavelength baroclinic Rossby (or planetary) waves, which play a significant role in ocean circulation and climate dynamics. These waves cross ocean basins from east to west at speeds of few centimetres per second at mid-latitudes. The ...

[1] Nonlinear wave‐wave interactions generate double‐ frequency (DF) microseisms, which include both surface waves (mainly Rayleigh‐type) and compressional (P) waves. Although it is unclear whether DF surface waves generated in deep oceans are observed on land, we show that beamforming of land‐based seismic array data allows detection of DF P waves generated by ocean waves from Super Typhoon Io...

[1] Among the different types of waves embedded in seismic noise, body waves present appealing properties but are still challenging to extract. Here we first validate recent improvements in numerical modeling of microseismic compressional (P) body waves and then show how this tool allows fast detection and location of their sources. We compute sources at ~0.2 Hz within typical P teleseismic dis...

Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL) deployed an X-band (9.8GHz, 3cm wavelength) marine radar during the European COAST3D field experiments in Teignmouth, UK. The study site is a complex three-dimensional tidal inlet. A sequence of 64 radar images was collected at time interval of 2.25s every hour. Although realistic-looking wave patterns are observed in the radar images, it is still unclear...

The propagation of ocean waves in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) is investigated with the aim of determining whether the loading and scattering of waves by ice floes is significant. Measurements made using instrumented ice floes in the MIZ north of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, during June 1998, are used to determine the frequency-wavelength relationship for propagating ocean waves in that region. Thi...