A bottom-mounted sensor used to record wave-induced pressure fluctuations will respond as a low-pass filter. Its signal will favor long waves while rejecting short ones
The shallow water limit is obtained by \[ \tanh(x) \approx x \quad \text{as } x \to 0 \] For \( H/\lambda \ll 1 \) \[ \tanh(2\pi H / \lambda) \approx 2\pi H / \lambda \] The phase speed from \(c = \frac{\omega}{k} = \sqrt{\frac{g}{k} \tanh(kH)} = \sqrt{\frac{g \lambda}{2\pi} \tanh\left( \frac{2\pi H}{\lambda} \right)}\) simplifies to \[ c = \sqrt{g H} \] Surface waves are regarded as shallow-water waves only if they are 14 times longer than the water depth, \(c = \sqrt{g H}\) shows that the wave speed increases with water depth, and that it is independent of wavelength, so shallow-water waves are non-dispersive
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