The sand washes back straight down the beach
As waves approach shore, their wavelengths decrease while the wave height increases. This is because the wave energy is squeezed into a smaller space due to the shallower depth of the water near the shore, causing the wave to become steeper and break.
Friction with the sea bed/shore
The wave speed decreases as it enters shallower water near the shore due to a decrease in water depth. This causes the waves to slow down and increase in height, ultimately leading to wave breaking as the top of the wave moves faster than the bottom.
Yes
Higher near shore. The land is denser than the water so the wave is higher.
As a wave approaches the shore, its wavelength decreases, causing the wave to increase in height. This is known as wave shoaling. Eventually, the wave will break as the water depth becomes shallow enough for the wave to no longer be stable.
It diffracts
Their wave size increases.
As a wave reaches shore, its speed decreases, causing the wavelength to shorten and the wave height to increase. Eventually, the wave breaks and dissipates energy along the coastline.
As a wave nears shore, the wave height increases as the wave interacts with the seabed, causing it to slow down and compress. This leads to a decrease in wavelength, as the wave energy becomes concentrated in a smaller area. Ultimately, this can result in the wave breaking as it reaches shallow water near the shore.
When a wave reaches an irregular shoreline, the wave front will refract, causing it to bend around the contours of the shoreline. This refraction occurs because the shallow water near the shore slows down the part of the wave closer to the shore, causing the wave front to bend.
Waves change direction as they near shore due to the interaction between the wave front and the sea bottom. This interaction causes the wave to slow down and bend, resulting in the wave refraction. Refraction causes the wave energy to focus on headlands and disperse in bays, affecting wave direction.