For science this week I’ve been studying Surf Science. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

Tides:

Tides are AMAZING!! I have learned so much about them already. It’s crazy to think that the moon and sun can make the world’s oceans move around so drastically. So far I have learned that tides are the result of the moon and sun’s pull on the earth’s major bodies of water. Tides actually have a TON of of factors, like the moon, the sun, topographical features, giant gyres in the ocean, and a few others. Some tides are called Neap tides and Spring tides. A Neap tide is when the moon’s gravitational pull and the sun’s gravitational pull cancel each other out, resulting in really small tides. This happens around half moons. Spring tides are the opposite of Neap tides, they are really really big. They happen when the moon’s pull is amplified by the sun’s pull. This is when there are full moons or new moons. I’ve been graphing the high and low tides for our beach. Tides are super interesting and I love learning about them.

Swell:

I have just started learning about swell. Swell is basically waves. The main decider of swell is actually wind. Out on the ocean wind picks up. Imagine swell like when you slide your finger on a piece of paper. The paper in front of your finger lifts up, like the water in front of the wind. The wind keeps blowing on the wave and it keeps getting bigger by energy being transferred from air molecules to water molecules. We only see the top part, but the wave can actually go all the way to the ocean floor. As the wave comes to shore, the bottom of the wave starts to drag but the top is still moving at the same speed so the water on top that’s going faster starts to curl, which is what we are looking for when we surf. The three main things that affect swell (or wave size) are wind speed, wind duration and fetch (which is the distance over open water that the wind blows in a single direction). There is still a lot I don’t know about swell but i’m exited to know more!!!