In geophysical and oceanographic phenomena, “swell” denotes long-period surface gravity waves that have propagated away from their generation area, typically storms, and become organized wave trains with relatively uniform period and direction. Swell is characterized by longer wavelengths, lower steepness, and more regular profiles than locally generated wind waves, arising from dispersion that filters out shorter, slower components during propagation. These waves can travel thousands of kilometers across ocean basins with limited energy loss, significantly influencing coastal hydrodynamics, wave-driven circulation, sediment transport, and coastal erosion, and are quantitatively described by spectral wave models and directional wave spectra.
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