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Sea Level Rising and its effects on your surf spot

Yes it will. As the swell approaches a coastline and comes into contact with the ocean floor, the wave will start to slow down. Some of the waves’ energy will be lost through contact with the ocean floor. The shallower the water becomes the slower the waves move. As waves slow down they squash together. (i.e. the waves shorten their wave period.) This process is know as shoaling and will result in increasing wave height. The steeper the ocean floor gradient, the more pronounced the wave’s height will start to increase.

The increase of wave height begins to occur at depths of around one half of the wavelength. So, Great surf instructors will teach surfing and sup students that: modern satellite observations available beginning in 1990s provide more accurate sea level data and global coverage, This decade-long satellite data set shows the sea level has been rising at a rate of around 3 mm yr. much higher than an average during our previous 1/2 century.

Beach tide gauge measurements also show this observation, and will indicate similar rates occurred in some earlier decades. Our satellite observations and hydrographic observations clearly show our sea level is not rising uniformly all around our world. Notice that some regions rates are up to many times the global mean rise, although in other regions our sea level is falling. Very large variation in rates of ocean level changing is also shown from hydrographic measurements.

The rates of sea level rise are really due to non uniform changes with our temperature and with salinity, also related to changes in the ocean circulation. Surfing instructors and surf students also sup instructors and sup surfing students will need to know that the action of the ocean bed slowing our bottom part of the wave that causes our wave to break. All gently sloping approaches cause the bottom of a wave to drag and results in the top of our wave prematurely overtaking the bottom of the wave, resulting in the wave breaking in deeper water. These mushy waves won’t be steep and will lack suck. When you’re learning to surf, this type of wave are what you surf. Surfing will change with the rising ocean level, because there will be different heights along the coastline, bringing new surf spots and eliminating old ones.

Predicting tides is vital for great surfers

The best Surf instructors know why it is important to people that use the sea for their livelihood. Professional and fun l fishermen use knowledge of the tides along with tidal currents to  improve catches. Depending on the types of fish and water depth in their area, fish may concentrate during ebb or flooding tidal currents. In some places, strong tidal currents concentrate bait with smaller fish, attracting predator fish. Also, knowledge of the tides is of interest to recreational beachgoers and sup surfers.

All surfers and standup paddle boarders need to understand that Piloting ships through shallow water, and intracoastal waterways along with estuaries means knowledge of the time and height of the tides and the speed and direction of the tidal currents. Always critical to sailing ships because they took advantage of  tides and currents to maneuver properly. Knowing about tides and currents is still critical because now the newest and biggest ships are very much larger than old sailing ships. Modern depths and widths of canals and ports in which they sail, combined with increased boating traffic leaves little room for mistakes. Now Real-time observation systems are being used in many major ports now so captions and  operators are safe.

Surfers and surfing instructors are concerned with tides, water heights along with tidal currents also. Knowledge of tidal mixing of near-shore waters, where pollutants are removed and resources are mixed. Tidal currents move animals and plants from breeding areas in estuaries out to deeper waters. Surfing and sup surfers can and should take oceanography classes at a local community college to understand why tidal fluctuations work, and to better understand the circulation of the ocean and its relationship to world climatic changes.

Most coastal areas but with a few exceptions, have two high tides and two low tides every lunar day, and that is of vital importance to surfing and standup paddelboarding. By now everyone knows the concept of the 24-hour solar day, the amount of time  it takes for a s site on Earth to rotate from a point under the sun to the same point under our sun. Inversely, a lunar day is the amount of time taken for a site on the Earth to rotate from a point under the moon to the same site under the moon. Different from a solar day, however, each lunar day is 24 hours and 50 minutes. Our lunar day is always 50 minutes longer than a solar day as our moon revolves around the Earth along the same direction that the Earth rotates around its axis. Oddly , it takes the Earth an extra 50 minutes to catch up with our moon

As the Earth rotates through 2 tidal “bulges” each lunar day, our coastal areas have two high and two low tides every 24 hours and 50 minutes. High tides will occur 12 hours and 25 minutes apart. And also it takes 6 hours and 12.5 minutes for the water at the shore to go from high to low, or from low to high.