How Waves Shape the Earth

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WThe chicken wind blows through the surface of the ocean, it forms a wave. A single wave can travel thousands of kilometers before breaking on earth; For example, some waves generated off the coast of New Zealand take place to the west coast of North America, taking up to two weeks to reach their final destination. And while small waves can move as slowly as 5 miles per hour, tsunamis in the middle of the peaceful ocean reach speeds of 600 miles per hour.

As they move through the planet, the waves carry nutrients, plankton and other constituent elements of marine life. They also transport larger animals, including baby turtles babies, which use waves to orient themselves perpendicular to the shore while they push towards the sea after hatching on the beaches. People also use waves to navigate. Some Pacific islanders relaunch a traditional practice called Wave Piloting, in which navigators partially trace a course by feeling the waves under their boat.

The waves also have an impact on life on earth, throwing sediments on shore which finally become beaches and dunes where shore birds and other wild animals find refuge. In Germany, where photographer Sandra Bartocha made this long exposure image to sunrise, waves drop up up to 13 feet of sand per year in certain places and erude up to 8 feet or more per year in others. Whether the waves give or have their impact on the oceans of the world is, let us say, unshakable.

Bartocha’s image won the Art of nature California Academy of Sciences Bigpicture Photography Competition Prize, now in its 12th year.

This story originally appeared in biographicalAn independent magazine on nature and regeneration powered by California Academy of Sciences.

Sandra Bartocha is an independent German photographer and author specializing in natural landscapes, forests and plants as well as abstract works.

• Knight Skylar

  Published on July 10, 2025

  Skylar Knight is an independent writer and scientific communicator focused on nature, fauna and conservation. He holds a master’s degree in scientific communication from the Imperial College London and produced content for cinema, radio and printing.

• Krista Langlois

  Published on July 10, 2025

  A long -standing independent journalist and a contributory editor -in -chief, Krista Langlois is now editor -in -chief of features at biographical. From her home in southwest Colorado, she writes on the intersection of people and nature for publications like Adventure Journal, The Atlantic, Hakai, National Geographic News, outside, And Smithsonian.