Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Two views of waves generated at the the Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC) Surf Ranch in Lemoore, Calif. to understand effects of onshore and offshore winds.
The wave on the left hand side is generated in the presence of onshore winds and the right hand side in the presence of offshore winds. A team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego found that offshore and onshore wind change the distribution of pressure on the surface of the wave, changing its shape as it breaks. Thus offshore wind (blowing from land to sea) tends to encourage development of the tubular barrel waves favored by advanced surfers. Onshore winds, those blowing from the ocean onto land, instead tend to contribute to “spilling” breaking waves in which whitewater cascades down the faces of waves resulting in lower levels of turbulence generation.
Read the full story at https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/scientists-and-surf-organizations-confirm-what-surfers-already-know
#surfing #waves #kellyslater #kellyslatersurfranch #usc #usace #uncw
Two views of waves generated at the the Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC) Surf Ranch in Lemoore, Calif. to understand effects of onshore and offshore winds.
The wave on the left hand side is generated in the presence of onshore winds and the right hand side in the presence of offshore winds. A team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego found that offshore and onshore wind change the distribution of pressure on the surface of the wave, changing its shape as it breaks. Thus offshore wind (blowing from land to sea) tends to encourage development of the tubular barrel waves favored by advanced surfers. Onshore winds, those blowing from the ocean onto land, instead tend to contribute to “spilling” breaking waves in which whitewater cascades down the faces of waves resulting in lower levels of turbulence generation.
Read the full story at https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/scientists-and-surf-organizations-confirm-what-surfers-already-know
#surfing #waves #kellyslater #kellyslatersurfranch #usc #usace #uncw
