Long crested

If all the constituting waves of an open

ocean travel in the same direction,
they are called long crested waves
Infinitely long crests remain straight
and parallel
Long crested waves are never
experienced outside the confines of
the towing tank (sometimes, approximations
may be found at sea)

Real Ocean Waves

The real waves in an ocean will be travelling
in many different directions
There will however be one primary direction,
more or less aligned with the direction of the
wind
Changes in wind direction, influence of
coastlines and bottom topography and the
presence of wave systems originally
generated elsewhere ensure that a truly long
crested wave is a rarity

Short crested waves

The presence of more than one long
crested wave system results in
alternate enhancement and
cancellation of wave crests and
troughs
This phenomenon gives rise to a
wave system with a spread of wave
directions and is called a short
crested seaway

Wave directionality
The analysis and prediction of wave
properties at a particular point on the
ocean surface needs to take account of
the directionality of the wave
components
The concept of superposition of regular
wave trains can be extended to include
directionality

 A wave energy spectrum derived from a record of

surface elevations obtained at point in ocean will
contain contributions from several different wave
directions.
It is convenient to ignore this fact and assume that the
wave system is long crested. For many purposes, this
may give acceptable results.
The degree of wave spreading has a profound influence
on some ship motions (particularly roll).Therefore, it
cannot be ignored