VC predicts the motion of the ocean

ANU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Young AO, has just published research that will help you every morning with the surf report. Research led by the Vice-Chancellor will allow oceanographers and meteorologists to better predict the rate at which ocean swells decay, or deteriorate, as they travel across the globe. "Ocean cargo shipping, offshore oil and gas production, and even recreational activities such as surfing, are all dependent on wave action," says Professor Young. "It is therefore critical that we are able to predict swell." It is estimated that 75 per cent of waves across the world are not actually generated by local winds. Instead, they are driven by distant storms which propagate as swell. "Imagine you drop a rock in a pond. Waves radiate out from the rock.