Local properties of sea waves derived from a wave record

It is demonstrated that for linear deep sea waves with small directional scattering the particle motion at the sea surface and energy transmission may be retrieved from a wave record by means of the Hilbert transform. A physical interpretation of the envelope of the two-dimensional deep sea waves as well as a new method for wave group analysis is presented.     

Surface gravity waves from direct numerical simulations of the Euler equations: A comparison with second-order theory

When the wave spectrum is sufficiently narrow-banded and the wave steepness is sufficiently high, the modulational instability can take place and waves can be higher than expected from second-order wave theory. In order to investigate these effects on the statistical distribution of long-crested, deep water waves, direct numerical simulations of the Euler equations have been performed. Results show that, for a typical design spectral shape, both the upper and lower tails of the probability density function for the surface elevation significantly deviate from the commonly used second-order wave theory. In this respect, the crest elevation is observed to increase up to 18% at low probability levels. It would furthermore be expected that wave troughs become shallower due to nonlinear effects. Nonetheless, the numerical simulations show that the trough depressions tend to be deeper than in second-order theory.     

Extreme wave events and sampling variability

Ocean Dynamics - Wave field data are affected not only by the accuracy of instruments recording them but also by sampling variability, an uncertainty due to the limited number of observations. For...     

Wave crest and trough distributions in a broad-banded directional wave field

It is well established that the modulational instability enhances the probability of occurrence for extreme events in long crested wave fields. Recent studies, however, have shown that the coexistence of directional wave components can reduce the effects related to the modulational instability. Here, numerical simulations of the Euler equations are used to investigate whether the modulational instability may produce significant deviations from second-order statistical properties of surface gravity waves when short crestness (i.e., directionality) is accounted for. The case of a broad-banded directional wave field (i.e. wind sea) is investigated. The analysis is concentrated on the wave crest and trough distribution. For completeness a comparison with a unidirectional wave field is presented also. Results will show that the distributions based on second-order theory provide a good estimate for the simulated crest and trough height also at low probability levels.