Hello, I'm an expert in coastal and oceanographic studies. I'd be happy to explain what causes waves to break. Waves break when they encounter a change in the depth of the ocean floor, which can cause them to slow down and topple over. This is often referred to as "breaking" because the wave's forward momentum is suddenly stopped, causing the crest to collapse. The process of wave breaking is influenced by several factors: 1. Wave Height: Larger waves are more likely to break because they have more energy and are more likely to interact with the ocean floor. 2. Wave Length: Longer waves can travel into shallower water before breaking because they have more energy stored in their length. 3. Water Depth: If the water is too shallow, the wave's bottom can interact with the ocean floor, causing the wave to break. 4. Wave Speed: Faster waves are more likely to break because they have more kinetic energy. 5. Shoaling: This is when a wave moves into shallower water and increases in height. As the wave height increases, the wave's speed decreases, which can lead to breaking. 6. Refraction: When waves approach a shoreline at an angle, they can bend or refract. The part of the wave that is closer to the shore slows down and breaks, while the part that is further out continues to move forward. 7. Diffraction: This occurs when waves encounter a barrier or gap. The waves spread out and can break in different places depending on the shape of the barrier. read more >>

In fluid dynamics, a breaking wave is a wave whose amplitude reaches a critical level at which some process can suddenly start to occur that causes large amounts of wave energy to be transformed into turbulent kinetic energy.read more >>