Why rogue waves occur atop abrupt depth transitions

Abrupt depth transitions (ADTs) have recently been identified as potential causes of ‘rogue’ ocean waves. When stationary and (close-to-) normally distributed waves travel into shallower water over an ADT, distinct spatially localized peaks in the probability of extreme waves occur. These peaks have...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of fluid mechanics 2021-05, Vol.919, Article R5
Main Authors: Li, Yan, Draycott, Samuel, Zheng, Yaokun, Lin, Zhiliang, Adcock, Thomas A.A., van den Bremer, Ton S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Extreme waves
Hypotheses
JFM Rapids
Mathematical models
Numerical prediction
Ocean waves
Physics
Probability theory
Random variables
Statistical analysis
Statistical models
Surface water waves
Velocity
Water waves
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abrupt depth transitions (ADTs) have recently been identified as potential causes of ‘rogue’ ocean waves. When stationary and (close-to-) normally distributed waves travel into shallower water over an ADT, distinct spatially localized peaks in the probability of extreme waves occur. These peaks have been predicted numerically, observed experimentally, but not explained theoretically. Providing this theoretical explanation using a leading-order-physics-based statistical model, we show, by comparing to new experiments and numerical simulations, that the peaks arise from the interaction between linear free and second-order bound waves, also present in the absence of the ADT, and new second-order free waves generated due to the ADT.
ISSN:0022-1120
1469-7645
DOI:10.1017/jfm.2021.409