Breakwater

A structure built offshore or along a shore to reduce wave energy and protect harbors, coastlines, or moored vessels. It works by reflecting, dissipating, or redirecting waves.

Wave attenuation: The reduction in wave height or energy as waves travel through a medium or encounter a structure. Breakwaters are designed to attenuate incoming waves before they reach protected waters.
Wave: A traveling disturbance that transfers energy through water without transporting the water mass over long distances. Breakwater design begins with the waves that approach its site.
Harbor protection: The use of structures and operating measures to keep harbor waters safe for vessels and facilities. A breakwater creates calmer water for navigation, anchorage, and port operations.
Longshore drift: The movement of sediment along a coast driven by waves approaching at an angle. A breakwater can interrupt this transport and change sediment supply downcoast.
Seawall: A wall built along a shoreline to protect inland areas from waves and erosion. Unlike a breakwater, a seawall typically stands at the shore rather than offshore.
Wave reflection: The return of wave energy from a boundary rather than its transmission through or absorption by that boundary. A breakwater’s slope and surface can send part of incoming wave energy back offshore.
Significant wave height: A statistical measure approximating the average height of the highest one-third of waves in a record. Design conditions are commonly expressed using this measure of sea state.
Coastal erosion: The wearing away or retreat of a coastline through waves, currents, tides, or other processes. Breakwaters are often installed to reduce wave-driven erosion along vulnerable shores.
Tombolo: A deposit of sediment that connects an island or offshore structure to the mainland or shore. Sediment can accumulate in the wave shadow behind a detached breakwater and form this landform.
Groin: A structure extending from the shore into the water to interrupt sediment movement along a coast. A groin primarily manages longshore sediment transport, not harbor wave shelter.

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