Perfect waves are not always a winning combination of wind, swell and tides. Sometimes, idyllic surf sessions depend on a concept called wave refraction. In oceanography, wave refraction is the bending of a wave as it propagates over different depths. The concept should be taken into consideration whenever we analyze and read a surf report. In other words, it is the process by which the direction of a traveling wave is changed due to the interaction with ocean’s bottom topography.

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What is wave refraction?

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