Maritime folklore is awash with tall tales of monstrous waves. A new study gets closer to understanding where they come from and how to predict them.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Waves
Displaying 1 - 20 of 49 articles
Europa Clipper will contain a plaque that celebrates humanity’s relationship with water and a decades-old tradition of searching for life outside Earth.
Sound needs matter to propagate, so the vast vacuum of space is not just empty − it’s silent.
The same instruments used to measure earthquakes pick up vibrations as ocean waves put pressure on the sea floor. Four decades of data tell a story about ocean storms.
Rip currents are a leading cause of near-shore drownings, but there are effective ways to survive one. And these phenomena also play important ecological roles that are an emerging research area.
New research may upend our understanding of the brain, showing that travelling waves of neuronal excitation dominate the activity associated with our thoughts and feelings.
In the future, our computer may be able to produce long-term forecasts in areas such as climate change, bushfires and financial markets – while being cheaper and more accessible than supercomputers.
A new way to make high-frequency light could make it easier to look at things 10 times smaller than conventional microscopes can see.
Sea-level rise isn’t the only climate-related problem for our coasts – extreme waves that cause flooding and erosion are also changing, but exactly how is hard to predict.
Storm Fiona caused a lot of property damage and erosion on the Canadian coast. But its effects are also felt in the depths of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Tsunamis aren’t just bigger-than-average waves. Triggered by undersea earthquakes or volcanic eruptions like the one in Tonga, they are fast, massive and potentially destructive. Here’s why.
Australians tend to be fairly relaxed about the tsunami risk. But warnings from authorities to stay away from foreshore areas should not be ignored.
Surfing’s benefits to well-being aren’t often studied in economics terms. This is a major gap in our knowledge we’re now trying to fill.
Tracking the pandemic’s waves enables authorities and policy makers to take action to keep new waves at bay.
Olympic surfers are coming from around the world to compete in surfing’s Olympic debut. But where will the waves come from?
New research suggests that an effective way to locate and track large concentrations of microplastics in the ocean could be from high in the sky.
New research looked at wave conditions over the past 40 years, and found wave power has increased since at least the 1980s, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere.
Internal waves can create pretty cloud shapes in the sky, as well as making life unpleasant for passengers on aeroplanes. And in the oceans they can be a deadly hazard to submarines.
Each bit of plastic takes a unique journey once it reaches the ocean. We’re trying to spot the patterns.
Field theory describes the universe as energy flowing along unending lines. With this perspective, it is possible to define a new fundamental building block of matter.
Top contributors
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Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO
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Associate Professor of Climate Science, Brandeis University
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Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
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Professor, Kyoto University
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Kernot Professor of Engineering, The University of Melbourne
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Research Scientist, Energy Economist, CSIRO
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Senior lecturer, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Professor of law and ocean sciences, University of Southampton
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Research Engineer, CSIRO
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Research Fellow, Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems, The University of Western Australia
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Professor, Australian National University
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Associate Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland
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Principal Research Scientist, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor in Coastal and Marine Science, University of Newcastle
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Postdoctoral Researcher, Australian National University
