Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 7, 2025

Measurements of Waves in a Wind-wave Tank Under Steady and Time-varying Wind Forcing
Published on: February 13, 2018
Measurement of Sea Waves
Giovanni Battista Rossi1, Andrea Cannata2,3, Antonio Iengo4
1Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Energetica, Gestionale e dei Trasporti, University of Genova, Via Opera Pia 15A, 16145 Genova, Italy.
Abstract:
Sea waves constitute a natural phenomenon with a great impact on human activities, and their monitoring is essential for meteorology, coastal safety, navigation, and renewable energy from the sea. Therefore, the main measurement techniques for their monitoring are here reviewed, including buoys, satellite observation, coastal radars, shipboard observation, and microseism analysis. For each technique, the measurement principle is briefly recalled, the degree of development is outlined, and trends are prospected. The complementarity of such techniques is also highlighted, and the need for further integration in local and global networks is stressed.
Related Concept Videos
Wave Parameters
Travelling Waves
Water waves, sound waves, and seismic waves are some examples of mechanical waves. For water waves, the wave propagation medium is...
Kinetic and Potential Energy of a Wave
In mechanical waves, the amount of energy is related to their amplitude and frequency. In the context of the above examples, large-amplitude earthquakes produce large...
Equations of Wave Motion
Echo
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case,...
Energy and Power of a Wave
Waves can also be concentrated or spread out, as characterized by the intensity of the wave. Intensity is directly...

