Surface wave energy reaches all the way to the way to the bottom of the ocean is it true or false?

Answer 1

Ocean waves are a surface effect. The wave breaks and rolls when the bottom is the depth of half total wave height. That is to say, a five-foot wave crest breaks in five feet of water. The water disturbed by the wave is as deep as the wave is tall. The waves rolling onto the beach drain back under the incoming sets of waves and create what is commonly called under-tow. At depths down to about 40 feet, depending on the energy, near the beach, the waves create surge. The surge is a bit disorienting because you are sloshing back and forth one way, the plants another and the bottom is, of course, staying put. The effect that waves have on the bottom is that they produce sand from crashing on rocks and near the beach they deposit that sand in a rippled pattern because of the surge. In the deep ocean, the energy of the waves will have long since been damped out by the water between the waves and the bottom and there will be no appreciable effect. The answer is both true and false, depending on what you are calling the bottom of the ocean. See the diagram in the link below.