Pendulum-like rocking of water in an enclosed area; a form of standing wave that can be caused by meteorological or seismic forces.

• A. Rogue Wave
• B. Seiche
• C. Sea
• D. Orbit

Answer: (B)

Seiche is a standing wave that forms in an enclosed or semi-enclosed body of water when disturbances cause the water to slosh back and forth like a pendulum. This pendulum-like rocking occurs because the basin supports a standing wave, with the entire water column moving in a resonant pattern while nodes and antinodes form along the water body. The oscillation can be triggered by meteorological forces such as strong winds or changes in atmospheric pressure that push water toward one end, or by seismic forces from earthquakes that displace the water column. The effect is most noticeable in lakes, bays, harbors, and reservoirs, and the period of the oscillation depends on the basin’s length, depth, and gravity. Rogue waves are large, unpredictable traveling waves in the open ocean, not enclosed-area standing waves. A sea is simply a large body of saltwater, not a specific oscillatory phenomenon, and orbit is not a term used to describe this process.