Yestermorn, I was watching the languid drift of steam fog as it was carried offshore\u00a0by a gentle katabatic wind. On other occasions, I had seen ripples on the\u00a0water caused by the passage of a katabatic wind, but on this occasion, although\u00a0there were tiny\u00a0waves flowing towards the shore from\u00a0off the Lake, the katabatic wind passed over the water without\u00a0leaving a trace. If the drifting steam fog hadn’t revealed its passage, I wouldn’t have known there was a wind\u00a0at all.\u00a0How can a wind travel over the water without disturbing it? (Continued below the first picture.)<\/p>\n
Even though a wind was carrying steam fog across the water, no water waves\u00a0revealed its passage.
\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/steamfog161011s.jpg\")
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Suddenly, the lightbulb went on. I knew that everything that moves across the surface of water makes waves — well, everything that moves faster than 23 centimetres\u00a0per second. I already knew that if a bug, such as a whirligig beetle or a water strider, moves very slowly across the water it makes no waves and so avoids\u00a0both wave resistance and revealing itself to prey\u00a0through spreading waves. Now, it seems, I can add a gentle katabatic wind to the things that can move over a water surface and neither make waves nor encounter wave resistance.<\/p>\n
For there to be a water wave, there must be a force that restores the position of the water that has been disturbed by, say, wind, boat, or swimming animal. If the\u00a0wavelengths are longer than 1.7 cm, the dominant restoring force is gravity; less than 1.7 cm, it is the surface tension of water. These really short waves are sometimes called capillary waves, but more often they get the name ripples.<\/p>\n
The odd thing is that the two types of waves behave differently: the fastest ripples are the shortest ones; the fastest gravity waves are the longest ones. A wavelength of 1.7 cm has a wave speed of 23 cm\/s, which is both the slowest ripple and the slowest (gravity) wave. All other waves move faster than 23 cm\/s. So a bug or wind moving across the water at a lower speed cannot excite\u00a0waves.<\/p>\n
Gentle breeze<\/strong>: If 23 cm\/s (0.23 m\/s, 0.8 km\/hr, or .5 mph) is the transition speed, just how slow is it? It is about a quarter or a fifth of a typical adult walking speed — a baby crawl.<\/p>\n This seemingly esoteric and curious fact has easily observable consequences, as will be seen.<\/p>\n As a katabatic wind flows down the mountain slope, it is slowed at the surface by the friction of passing over trees and rocks. Assuming it is moving at less than 23 cm\/s when it reaches the Lake, it does not disturb the water. However, this lack of wave resistance also means that the\u00a0drainage wind now begins to accelerate. A short distance offshore, the wind is moving faster than 23 cm\/s and now it begins to make waves.<\/p>\n There are katabatic winds on the Lake in this sunrise scene taken a month and a half ago. Disturbed water can be seen in the image below. Katabatic winds have descended the slope on the shady (cool) left side of the picture and have spread over the water. They are also apparent on portions of the right side still in shade, but where the sun has warmed the slope, the winds have ceased.\u00a0On the left side there is often a gap between the shore and the disturbed water. While\u00a0there is a wind there, the air is moving at less than 23 cm\/s. However, the lack of resistance to the flow allows it to accelerate above the transition speed and start disturbing the water farther offshore with waves. Katabatic wind: a usually gentle wind of cool air that drains\u00a0down the mountain slope overnight. When\u00a0the sun warms the slope and the air above it, a katabatic wind usually stops. Yestermorn, I was watching the languid drift of steam … Continue reading
\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/katabaticwind160829s.jpg\")
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