MIT Engineers Use Artificial Intelligence To Capture the Complexity of Breaking Waves

Using machine learning along with data from wave tank experiments, MIT engineers have found a way to model how waves break. "With this, you could simulate waves to help design structures better, more efficiently, and without huge safety factors," says Themis Sapsis. The new model's predictions should help researchers improve ocean climate simulations and hone the design of offshore structures. Waves break once they swell to a critical height, before cresting and crashing into a shower of droplets and bubbles. These waves can be as big as a surfer's point break and as small as a gentle ripple rolling to shore.