Reddit reviews Water Wave Mechanics for Engineers & Scientists (Advanced Series on Ocean Engineering-Vol2)

Ocean Engineer here.. I studied in the same program as a scientist that works for surfline. Wave prediction is very complicated but this book is widely regarded as the best resource to learn it. I have read pretty much the entire book and it is well worth you time if you have the math background to understand it.

Hello fellow wave enthusiast!

For a basic overview, try Surf Science. It's essentially a layman's guide to waves with hardly any math in it.


After that, there's various levels of math you can dive into. Waves are generally easy to formulate in deep water, but when dealing with shallow water, things get bit more complicated. The simpler equations for breaking or shallow water waves are largely empirical, and even then they are paired a lot of assumptions like smooth bottom and constant profile. After that you start getting into the heavy stuff like numerical solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations. You may want to check ocean engineering related textbooks that better connect the math to the physical wave behavior, like this one which I think is a good general textbook on ocean waves.

As for predicting and understanding global wave patterns, that's more meteorology than wave science. You're dealing with wind patterns, cyclone basins, storm prediction etc. Weather models, bouy data, and the numerous NOAA pages all become your best friends. Knowing when your local break works comes mostly from experience. You should watch the local the winds, swell direction, and period and see how things break under given conditions. Of course, keeping an eye on major storms like hurricanes/typhoons also helps.