Waves are most commonly caused by wind.
Wind-driven waves, or surface waves, are created by the friction between wind and surface water.
As a swell approaches the coastline and comes into contact with the sea floor the waves will start to slow down, the shallower the water, the slower they move.
Because the waves slow down, they begin to squash together and so get higher.
When the bottom of the wave cannot support the top, the wave breaks.
Waves!
Waves are created by energy passing through water, causing it to move in a circular motion. The ocean is never still. … Wind-driven waves, or surface waves, are created by the friction between wind and surface water. As wind blows across the surface of the ocean or a lake, the continual disturbance creates a wave crest.
