# sphere with waves on the surface

I am working on surface waves on a curved surfaces and I need to draw a 3D sphere with sinusoidal waves on its surface, waves should start from the top and end in bottom, I have no idea how to do it. here is what I want but in a half sphere (look at figure b). I want a schematic figure like that, can anyone help? http://bvukasinovic.gatech.edu/modes.html

• Welcome to TeX.SX. Could you post a MWE (minimal working example) of what you've already achieved? – Rico Dec 29 '15 at 12:48
• Maybe TikZ (2D)? – Karlo Dec 29 '15 at 12:50

Not sure if this is what you want... I do not know physics. But as long as you can parameterize the surface as r=(θ,φ) you can draw it with tikz-3dplot.

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage[yyyymmdd,hhmmss]{datetime}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\begin{document}
\tikz\node{Start:\currenttime};

\def\n{10}
\def\m{10}
\tdplotsetmaincoords{70}{110}
\foreach\i in{1,...,\n}{
\tikz[tdplot_main_coords,line width=0,line join=round]{
\useasboundingbox(-25,-25)(25,25);
\tdplotsphericalsurfaceplot[parametricfill]{500}{20}
{10+.5*sin(\m*\tdplottheta+360*\i/\n)}
{black}{\m*\tdplottheta+360*\i/\n}{}{}{}
}
}

\tikz\node{End:\currenttime};
\end{document}