Wrapfigure huge whitespace under figures

Question

Anyone know what's going on here? There is a huge space under my wrapfigure, where I didn't have this problem before with regular figures. Not to mention it's forced itself to the bottom of the page.

MWE:

\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt]{article} %changed to article instead of interact
\usepackage[natbibapa]{apacite}
\bibpunct[, ]{(}{)}{;}{a}{}{,}% Citation support using natbib.sty
\usepackage{epigraph}
\usepackage[a4paper, margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}
\usepackage[toc,page]{appendix}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames,table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{xfp}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\begin{abstract}

Aliquam lobortis eros eu tortor feugiat ultricies. Maecenas eu rutrum tellus. Mauris lacinia vulputate mi, sagittis fermentum nunc volutpat nec. Aenean pulvinar felis sed tempor mattis. Duis bibendum libero non libero euismod, sit amet cursus metus maximus. Nunc accumsan et diam molestie aliquam. Integer quis metus ac magna ultricies rutrum et vitae nisi. In sit amet felis vitae orci placerat pellentesque ut et elit. Duis dignissim volutpat tellus, ornare vestibulum mauris scelerisque et. Nunc quis augue quis orci luctus egestas id ac ligula. Aenean velit arcu, lobortis in faucibus sed, lobortis ut neque.

\end{abstract}

\keywords{narrative, pedestrian wayfinding, route memorability, field study}


\section{Introduction}
Fusce cursus sit amet orci in venenatis. Morbi nec vulputate elit. Morbi feugiat sapien lacinia, blandit turpis non, finibus nibh. Nam at erat ligula. Vivamus libero eros, pulvinar vitae risus vel, porta tincidunt libero. Mauris volutpat euismod nisl, in convallis dui viverra id. Pellentesque sagittis dolor sed turpis cursus dictum. Vivamus fermentum sollicitudin commodo. Sed pretium nec ligula sed congue. Sed viverra luctus felis, et porta urna varius quis. Pellentesque in magna dapibus, commodo ex eget, lobortis arcu. Vivamus justo velit, varius eu purus sed, tempus condimentum diam. Cras semper enim sagittis, interdum nulla sit amet, vehicula felis.

Curabitur id mollis felis, rhoncus lacinia dui. Cras et velit dignissim, porta risus sit amet, lacinia tortor. Nullam bibendum velit non ornare convallis. Maecenas bibendum ex blandit magna faucibus, id volutpat diam pretium. Donec aliquam, tortor nec faucibus varius, eros arcu scelerisque massa, at mattis mi mauris non dui. Sed pellentesque sapien libero, quis cursus augue sagittis vitae. Cras erat erat, lacinia in nisi sed, molestie iaculis augue. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Etiam in metus enim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Maecenas pellentesque eu enim eu bibendum. Donec dignissim leo lectus, sit amet malesuada massa tincidunt non. Mauris vel felis accumsan, tincidunt erat quis, fringilla nisl. Aliquam blandit tincidunt eleifend.

Aenean suscipit malesuada nunc nec consectetur. Donec facilisis fermentum nibh at vulputate. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Etiam ut vulputate sem. Duis bibendum, massa et molestie ultrices, nunc nibh dictum nunc, nec volutpat felis est id ante. Nulla luctus mauris sed neque suscipit, at auctor nisi dapibus. Aenean vel tortor ut risus mattis fringilla. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec posuere ante ligula, in viverra sem imperdiet et. Quisque et leo et libero aliquam ultricies id ut mauris. In venenatis dolor nisl, eu tempor erat faucibus in. Pellentesque urna lacus, commodo ac dolor ac, feugiat volutpat eros. Phasellus laoreet feugiat eleifend. Suspendisse potenti.

\subsubsection{Procedure}
Fusce cursus sit amet orci in venenatis. Morbi nec vulputate elit. Morbi feugiat sapien lacinia, blandit turpis non, finibus nibh. Nam at erat ligula. Vivamus libero eros, pulvinar vitae risus vel, porta tincidunt libero. Mauris volutpat euismod nisl, in convallis dui viverra id. Pellentesque sagittis dolor sed turpis cursus dictum. Vivamus fermentum sollicitudin commodo. 

\begin{wrapfigure}{l}{0.5\textwidth}
    
    %\vspace{50ex}
    \includegraphics[width=.48\textwidth]{graphics/studyphases.pdf}
    \caption[Overview of the three phases of the user study]{Overview of the three phases of the user study. Phases 1 and 2 were completed in-person, while Phase 3 was completed one week later online.}
    \label{fig:overviewPhase} % \label has to be placed AFTER \caption (or \subcaption) to produce correct cross-references.
\end{wrapfigure}

\subsubsection{Phase 1: Learning}
ed pretium nec ligula sed congue. Sed viverra luctus felis, et porta urna varius quis. Pellentesque in magna dapibus, commodo ex eget, lobortis arcu. Vivamus justo velit, varius eu purus sed, tempus condimentum diam. Cras semper enim sagittis, interdum nulla sit amet, vehicula felis.

Curabitur id mollis felis, rhoncus lacinia dui. Cras et velit dignissim, porta risus sit amet, lacinia tortor. Nullam bibendum velit non ornare convallis. Maecenas bibendum ex blandit magna faucibus, id volutpat diam pretium. Donec aliquam, tortor nec faucibus varius, eros arcu scelerisque massa, at mattis mi mauris non dui. Sed pellentesque sapien libero, quis cursus augue sagittis vitae. Cras erat erat, lacinia in nisi sed, molestie iaculis augue. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Etiam in metus enim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Maecenas pellentesque eu enim eu bibendum. Donec dignissim leo lectus, sit amet malesuada massa tincidunt non. Mauris vel felis accumsan, tincidunt erat quis, fringilla nisl. Aliquam blandit tincidunt eleifend.

Aenean suscipit malesuada nunc nec consectetur. Donec facilisis fermentum nibh at vulputate. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Etiam ut vulputate sem. Duis bibendum, massa et molestie ultrices, nunc nibh dictum nunc, nec volutpat felis est id ante. Nulla luctus mauris sed neque suscipit, at auctor nisi dapibus. Aenean vel tortor ut risus mattis fringilla. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec posuere ante ligula, in viverra sem imperdiet et. Quisque et leo et libero aliquam ultricies id ut mauris. In venenatis dolor nisl, eu tempor erat faucibus in. Pellentesque urna lacus, commodo ac dolor ac, feugiat volutpat eros. Phasellus laoreet feugiat eleifend. Suspendisse potenti.
\end{document}

Answer 1

What is happening here, has to do with the way wrapfig handles placement of text and figures. First the area needed by the float (figure) is calculated and the text is positioned accordingly next to that reserved area. After typesetting the text, the float is placed inside that area (or something like that).

However, when you are near the end of a page, the text gets typeset at the first page and continues on the next one using the margin that was calculated for the float area. The float will start on the first page, but cannot break onto the next, so it will extend into the bottom margin and stops there.

You can alter this behaviour by placing the subsubsection header and first paragraph above the start of wrapfig. The figure will then appear at the top of the next page and the next two paragraphs are correctly aligned next to it.

So the code of that part reads:

\subsubsection{Phase 1: Learning}
ed pretium nec ligula sed congue. Sed viverra luctus felis, et porta urna varius quis. Pellentesque in magna dapibus, commodo ex eget, lobortis arcu. Vivamus justo velit, varius eu purus sed, tempus condimentum diam. Cras semper enim sagittis, interdum nulla sit amet, vehicula felis.

\begin{wrapfigure}{L}{0.5\textwidth}
    
    %\vspace{50ex}
    \includegraphics[width=.48\textwidth]{graphics/studyphases.pdf}
    \caption[Overview of the three phases of the user study]{Overview of the three phases of the user study. Phases 1 and 2 were completed in-person, while Phase 3 was completed one week later online.}
    \label{fig:overviewPhase} % \label has to be placed AFTER \caption (or \subcaption) to produce correct cross-references.
\end{wrapfigure}

Curabitur id mollis felis, rhoncus lacinia dui. Cras et velit dignissim, porta risus sit amet, lacinia tortor. Nullam bibendum velit non ornare convallis. Maecenas bibendum ex blandit magna faucibus, id volutpat diam pretium. Donec aliquam, tortor nec faucibus varius, eros arcu scelerisque massa, at mattis mi mauris non dui. 

Sed pellentesque sapien libero, quis cursus augue sagittis vitae. Cras erat erat, lacinia in nisi sed, molestie iaculis augue. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Etiam in metus enim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Maecenas pellentesque eu enim eu bibendum. Donec dignissim leo lectus, sit amet malesuada massa tincidunt non. Mauris vel felis accumsan, tincidunt erat quis, fringilla nisl. Aliquam blandit tincidunt eleifend.

As David Carlisle suggested you can add the optional line count to \begin{wrapfig}, but as far as I can tell that might not be necessary in your case.