Dan Kimbrough, age 9, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for his question:

What causes ocean waves?

The oceans are all water, and water never misses a chance to swoop and swerve and run around. The slightest breeze can ripple and ruffle the shiny surface of a pond. So it is with the watery oceans. Only here the breezes tend to be big winds and stormy gales. They blow with mighty force from afar, hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles across the surface of the wide oceans. As they blow, the winds stir up waves and drive them on and on around the globe.

The world is large and the weather around it is always changing. At this moment, hundreds of large and small storms are raging in different places. Over the seas they are stirring up the waves that keep the world ocean in restless upheaval. The tides heave up the ocean waters and sometimes seaquakes cause monster tsunami waves. But all the everyday waves are whipped up and driven along by the world wide winds