Editing Seiche (section)

{{short description|Standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water}}
{{Other uses}}

A '''seiche''' ({{IPAc-en|s|eɪ|ʃ}} {{respell|SAYSH}}) is a [[standing wave]] in an enclosed or partially enclosed [[body of water]]. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on [[lake]]s, [[reservoir]]s, [[swimming pool]]s, [[bay]]s, [[harbor]]s, [[cave]]s, and [[sea]]s. The key requirement for formation of a seiche is that the body of water be at least partially bounded, allowing the formation of the standing wave.

The term was promoted in 1890 by the Swiss [[hydrology|hydrologist]] [[François-Alphonse Forel]], who was the first to make scientific observations of the effect in [[Lake Geneva]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=G. H. |last=Darwin |author-link=George Howard Darwin |title=The Tides and Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System |year=1898 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |pages=21–31}}</ref> The word had apparently long been used in the region to describe oscillations in alpine lakes. According to Wilson (1972),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rabinovich|first=Alexander B.|title=Handbook of Coastal and Ocean Engineering|chapter=Seiches and Harbor Oscillations|pages=243–286 |publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-320-401-0|doi=10.1142/9789813204027_0011|year=2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Basil W.|title=Seiches|volume=8|date=1972|pages=1–94|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-0-12-021808-0|doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-021808-0.50006-1|series=Advances in Hydroscience}}</ref> this [[Swiss French]] dialect word comes from the Latin word {{lang|la|siccus}} meaning "dry", i.e., as the water recedes, the beach dries. The French word {{lang|fr|sec}} or {{lang|fr|sèche}} (dry) descends from the Latin.

Seiches in harbours can be caused by ''long-period'' or ''[[infragravity waves]]'', which are due to subharmonic nonlinear wave interaction with the [[wind wave]]s, having periods longer than the accompanying wind-generated waves.<ref name="Munk">{{cite conference
| url = https://icce-ojs-tamu.tdl.org/icce/index.php/icce/article/view/904
| title = Origin and generation of waves
| last1 = Munk
| first1 = Walter H.
| author-link1 = Walter Munk
| date = 1950
| publisher = Council on Wave Research, [[American Society of Civil Engineers]]
| conference = 1st International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Long Beach, California
| doi = 10.9753/icce.v1.1
| issn = 2156-1028
| doi-access = free
| access-date = 2017-04-19
| archive-date = 2017-01-11
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170111121634/https://icce-ojs-tamu.tdl.org/icce/index.php/icce/article/view/904
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
[[File:Standing wave 2.gif|293px|thumb|right|A standing wave (black) depicted as a sum of two propagating waves traveling in opposite directions (blue and red).]]