How Currents Trigger Extreme Sea Waves. The Roles of Stokes Drift, Eulerian Return Flow, and a Background Flow in the Open Ocean
Abstract A deterministic system of ocean surface waves and flow in the oceanic boundary layer is key to understanding the dynamics of the upper ocean. For the description of such complex systems, a higher‐order shear‐current modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation is newly derived and then used to p...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107381 |
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| _version_ | 1849321868435128320 |
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| author | Yan Li Amin Chabchoub |
| author_facet | Yan Li Amin Chabchoub |
| author_sort | Yan Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract A deterministic system of ocean surface waves and flow in the oceanic boundary layer is key to understanding the dynamics of the upper ocean. For the description of such complex systems, a higher‐order shear‐current modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation is newly derived and then used to physically interpret the interplay between Stokes drift, Eulerian return flow due to a passing wave group, and an open‐ocean vertically sheared flow in the extreme sea wave generation. The conditions for the suppression or enhancement of the modulation instability in the rogue wave dynamics in the presence of a background flow are reported, whose relevance and influence to the Craik‐Leibovich type 2 instability in triggering a Langmuir‐type circulation is discussed. The findings highlight the need for future studies to establish and assess the energy transfer from waves to currents or in the reversing order, asserting a plausible physical mechanism for the dissipation of the surface wave energy through wave‐current interactions in the open ocean. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-66e6ecfd3cec413c952e78ea8bc05823 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-66e6ecfd3cec413c952e78ea8bc058232025-08-20T03:49:37ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072024-03-01516n/an/a10.1029/2023GL107381How Currents Trigger Extreme Sea Waves. The Roles of Stokes Drift, Eulerian Return Flow, and a Background Flow in the Open OceanYan Li0Amin Chabchoub1Department of Mathematics University of Bergen Bergen NorwayHakubi Center for Advanced Research Disaster Prevention Research Institute Kyoto University Kyoto JapanAbstract A deterministic system of ocean surface waves and flow in the oceanic boundary layer is key to understanding the dynamics of the upper ocean. For the description of such complex systems, a higher‐order shear‐current modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation is newly derived and then used to physically interpret the interplay between Stokes drift, Eulerian return flow due to a passing wave group, and an open‐ocean vertically sheared flow in the extreme sea wave generation. The conditions for the suppression or enhancement of the modulation instability in the rogue wave dynamics in the presence of a background flow are reported, whose relevance and influence to the Craik‐Leibovich type 2 instability in triggering a Langmuir‐type circulation is discussed. The findings highlight the need for future studies to establish and assess the energy transfer from waves to currents or in the reversing order, asserting a plausible physical mechanism for the dissipation of the surface wave energy through wave‐current interactions in the open ocean.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107381 |
| spellingShingle | Yan Li Amin Chabchoub How Currents Trigger Extreme Sea Waves. The Roles of Stokes Drift, Eulerian Return Flow, and a Background Flow in the Open Ocean Geophysical Research Letters |
| title | How Currents Trigger Extreme Sea Waves. The Roles of Stokes Drift, Eulerian Return Flow, and a Background Flow in the Open Ocean |
| title_full | How Currents Trigger Extreme Sea Waves. The Roles of Stokes Drift, Eulerian Return Flow, and a Background Flow in the Open Ocean |
| title_fullStr | How Currents Trigger Extreme Sea Waves. The Roles of Stokes Drift, Eulerian Return Flow, and a Background Flow in the Open Ocean |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Currents Trigger Extreme Sea Waves. The Roles of Stokes Drift, Eulerian Return Flow, and a Background Flow in the Open Ocean |
| title_short | How Currents Trigger Extreme Sea Waves. The Roles of Stokes Drift, Eulerian Return Flow, and a Background Flow in the Open Ocean |
| title_sort | how currents trigger extreme sea waves the roles of stokes drift eulerian return flow and a background flow in the open ocean |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107381 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yanli howcurrentstriggerextremeseawavestherolesofstokesdrifteulerianreturnflowandabackgroundflowintheopenocean AT aminchabchoub howcurrentstriggerextremeseawavestherolesofstokesdrifteulerianreturnflowandabackgroundflowintheopenocean |