A Scholte wave is a surface wave (interface wave) propagating at an interface between a fluid and an elastic solid medium (such as an interface between water and sand).
[1][2] The wave is of maximum intensity at the interface and decreases exponentially away from the interface into both the fluid and the solid medium.
[3] It is named after J. G. Scholte, who discovered it in 1947.
[4] This wave is similar to a Stoneley wave, which propagates at a solid-solid interface, and a Rayleigh wave, which propagates at a vacuum-solid interface.