<P> Surfers are very interested in the wave forecasts . There are many websites that provide predictions of the surf quality for the upcoming days and weeks . Wind wave models are driven by more general weather models that predict the winds and pressures over the oceans, seas and lakes . </P> <P> Wind wave models are also an important part of examining the impact of shore protection and beach nourishment proposals . For many beach areas there is only patchy information about the wave climate, therefore estimating the effect of wind waves is important for managing littoral environments . </P> <P> Ocean water waves generate land seismic waves that propagate hundreds of kilometers into the land . These seismic signals usually have the period of 6 ± 2 seconds . Such recordings were first reported and understood in about 1900 . </P> <P> There are two types of seismic "ocean waves". The primary waves are generated in shallow waters by direct water wave - land interaction and have the same period as the water waves (10 to 16 seconds). The more powerful secondary waves are generated by the superposition of ocean waves of equal period traveling in opposite directions, thus generating standing gravity waves--with an associated pressure oscillation at half the period, which is not diminishing with depth . The theory for microseism generation by standing waves was provided by Michael Longuet - Higgins in 1950, after in 1941 Pierre Bernard suggested this relation with standing waves on the basis of observations . </P>

Which below has the least influence on determining how high a wind wave will grow