Wavelength and Fetch?!?

Question

Firstly can anyone explain to me what the fetch is?!
And secondly, what happens to the wavelength after the fetch reaches a certain point. For instance if you have a graph plotting wavelength against fetch and you have a curve, after you reach the top of that curve what happens to it? Does it go down or become saturated etc..?
Thank you so much in advance, it's my first day of gcse lessons and i am very confused! :S
xxx

Also, is the statement; the larger the fetch, the larger the wave, corect?
Sorry thanks xx

Answer 1

Fetch is an area of open water that forms a wave, from the action of the wind over the surface. In restricted waters the fetch can be quite short. Over an oceanic area, fetch is defined as the area over which the wind blows in the same direction. In general terms, the larger the fetch, the larger the waves.

But there is a limit to the length of waves that can be formed by wind, because the speed of the wind is a limiting factor. (The longer the wavelength, the faster the wave travels; so the wavelength will never get long enough for the wave to outrace the wind forming it.)

That also means that if the fetch gets larger than a certain size, wavelength will no longer increase, because we would not expect windspeed to increase beyond a certain amount no matter how large the fetch.