Abstract
The goal of this paper is to investigate the importance of the four-wave nonlinear interactions (SNL4) on the shape of the power spectrum of ocean waves. To this end, the following results are discussed: a number of authors have conducted modern experimental measurements of ocean waves over the past decades and found that the measured power spectrum has (a) a very high central peak (characterized by the parameter γ, developed in the 1970s in the JONSWAP program) and (b) enhanced high-frequency channels which lead to the phenomenon of “bimodality”, also a well-known phenomenon. We discuss how a numerical hindcast of the Draupner storm (1995) with the standard code WAVEWATCH-III with full Boltzmann interactions also reflects these previously experimentally determined spectral shapes. Our results suggest that the use of the full Boltzmann interactions (as opposed to the discrete interaction approximation often employed for forecasting/hindcasting) is important for obtaining this characteristic physical spectral shape of the power spectrum.
Highlights
Third-generation spectral wave models have been applied to investigate extreme waves in wind [1], waves under explosive cyclones [2] and on wave hindcasts performed with the WAVEWATCH-III model (WW3)
The goal of this paper is to make a relative comparison of hindcasts of the Draupner storm using WAVEWATCH-III with two nonlinear wave interaction models: (1) the discrete interaction approximation (DIA) model [5] and (2) the Webb–Resio–Tracy (WRT) model [6,7,8], which computes the full nonlinear Boltzmann interactions
We have decided to reflect on what possible nonlinear properties of ocean waves that modern wind/wave models can produce, primarily from the point of view of the BFI. Because of this focus on nonlinear interactions, in the present study, we use the full Boltzmann interactions for SNL4, but we address the possibility that the modulation instability might play a role in spectral properties for two-dimensional waves
Summary
Third-generation spectral wave models have been applied to investigate extreme waves in wind [1], waves under explosive cyclones [2] and on wave hindcasts performed with the WAVEWATCH-III model (WW3). We have decided to reflect on what possible nonlinear properties of ocean waves that modern wind/wave models can produce, primarily from the point of view of the BFI Because of this focus on nonlinear interactions, in the present study, we use the full Boltzmann interactions for SNL4, but we address the possibility that the modulation instability might play a role in spectral properties for two-dimensional waves.
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