COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• Become familiar with the physical processes that affect waves in deep water (generation by wind, wave-wave interactions, whitecapping, dispersion) and in coastal areas (shoaling, refraction, reflection, scattering, diffraction, wave-current interactions, bottom friction, breaking). Understand qualitatively the effects of these processes on wave conditions with commonly observed wind fields and coastal topographies.
• Understand wave growth and propogation theories for idealized situations: Phillips' and Miles' mechanisms for wave generation, resonance conditions for nonlinear wave-wave interactions, swell dispersion in deep water, shoaling and refraction on straight and parallel depth contours, diffraction through a narrow gap, reflection from a depth discontinuity.
• Become familiar with commonly used wave and surf prediction models. Understand the terms in the governing equations and the underlying assumptions and approximations. Be able to choose an appropriate model for operational prediction problems and understand the model limitations.

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