Pacific Island Navigation
There was a near perfect ripple map on a very windy West Wittering beach yesterday. The different wave patterns on each side of an island…
Find out how to read water
Tag: beach
The Beach ‘Step’
The ‘step’ is the line where the beach gradient steepens and the water suddenly gets a bit deeper. It is marked by a line of…
The Effect of Wind on Breaking Waves
The way waves behave is a big subject. But here we’ll look at just one simple aspect, the way the wind shapes breaking waves at…
What is swash?
Swash is the name given to the waves that rush up the beach after a wave has broken. They are intriguing little waves that inhabit…
The Pebbles on the Beach
Thank you to everyone who tuned in to listen to me eulogise Clarence Ellis’ book, The Pebbles on the Beach, on the Today programme on…
The Colour of Water
The colour of water is determined by: A) What’s under it. B) What’s in it. C) What’s on it. D) And by light levels and…
How to Make a Compass Out of Sand, Snow or Dust
Whenever you’re on sand or snow, tune in to the direction the most recent winds have been blowing from and you’ll find yourself surrounded by…
Pin Holes on the Beach
When a wave breaks it pushes foamy water up the beach, this is the ‘swash‘. Some of this water flows back down the beach to…
A Sand Colour Mystery
If you study the picture below, you will notice that the sand is not all the same colour. There appear to be three colours. Ignoring…