surface wave

noun

, Geology.

1. a seismic wave that travels along or parallel to the earth's surface ( body wave ).

surface wave

1. A seismic wave that travels across the surface of the Earth as opposed to through it. Surface waves usually have larger amplitudes and longer wavelengths than body waves, and they travel more slowly than body waves do. Love waves and Rayleigh waves are kinds of surface waves.
2. Compare body waveSee Note at earthquake

Example Sentences

But it was so large that it sent seismic energy through the surface layers of the Martian crust, creating what’s known as a surface wave—which can reveal more information about a planet’s interior than can other types of seismic wave.

From Scientific American

Satellites provide maps of instants in time whereas surface wave gliders and underwater profiling gliders provide time series that move around underneath these maps, and can be redirected by these maps to the areas of greatest interest, Glenn says, adding that he prefers to use all three means simultaneously for “sustained sampling trajectories through this unseen world.”

From Scientific American

Militarism is only the surface wave, compared with the deeper swells of the Afghan cultural story.

From New York Times

Trapped there, a lot of the energy bounces back and then travels horizontally as a surface wave for thousands of miles, Dr. Parsons said.

From Wall Street Journal

David Farmer, a physical oceanographer and dean of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, together with student Qiang Li, said that large amplitude, nonlinear internal waves can reach heights of 150 meters or more in the South China Sea, and the effects they have on surface wave fields ensure that they are readily observable from space.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• tsunami