Fetch (geography)

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Fetch (geography)

Fetch, often called the fetch length, is a term for the length of water over which a given wind

WIND

The Global Geospace Science WIND satellite is a NASA science spacecraft launched at 04:31:00 EST on November 1, 1994 from launch pad 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Merritt_Island%2C_Florida, Florida aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta II 7925-10 rocket....
has blown. It is used in geography

Geography

Geography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth"....
and meteorology

Meteorology

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century....
and is usually associated with coastal erosion

Erosion

For morphological image processing operations, see Erosion 'For use of in dermatopathology, see Erosion Erosion is the removal of solids in the natural environment....
. It plays a large part in longshore drift

Longshore drift

Longshore drift is a geology process by which sediments such as sand or other materials, move along a beach shore. It uses the process of swash to push the material up the beach and backwash down the beach; until it reaches a groyne or another obstacle....
as well.

The fetch length along with the wind speed (or strength) determines the size of waves

Ocean surface wave

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Encyclopedia

Fetch, often called the fetch length, is a term for the length of water over which a given wind

WIND

Geography

Geography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth"....
and meteorology

Meteorology

Erosion

Longshore drift

Ocean surface wave

In fluid dynamics wind waves, or more precisely wind generated waves, are surface waves that occur on the free surface of oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and canals ? or even on small puddles and ponds....
produced. The longer the fetch length and the faster the wind speed, the larger and stronger the wave will be. For example, the winds which travel from the East Coast of the United States

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the "Eastern Seaboard" or "Atlantic Seaboard", refers to the easternmost coastal states in the central and northern United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada....
and hit the west coast of Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
would have an extremely large fetch and would produce very large waves if the wind speed was also high.The fetch length determines the power and energy of the wave. Additionally, if the winds are blowing in the same direction during the wave's lifetime, the wave will in turn be stronger. If a fetch is very large, then the wave will be very large and vice versa. The fetch is related to the orbit of the wave.