The formation mechanism of extreme waves in the coastal areas is still an open contemporary problem in fluid mechanics and ocean engineering. Previous studies have shown that the transition of water depth from a deeper to a shallower zone increases the occurrence probability of large waves. Indeed, more efforts are required to improve the understanding of extreme wave statistics variations in such conditions. To achieve this goal, large scale experiments of unidirectional irregular waves propagating over a variable bottom profile considering different transition water depths were performed. The validation of two highly nonlinear numerical models was performed for one representative case. The collected data were examined and interpreted by using spectral or bispectral analysis as well as statistical analysis. The higher probability of occurrence of large waves was confirmed by the statistical distributions built from the measured free surface elevation time series as well as by the local maximum values of skewness and kurtosis around the end of the slope. Strong second-order nonlinear effects were highlighted as waves propagate into the shallower region. A significant amount of wave energy was transmitted to low-frequency modes. Based on the experimental data, we conclude that the formation of extreme waves is mainly related to the second-order effect, which is also responsible for the generation of long waves. It is shown that higher-order nonlinearities are negligible in these sets of experiments. Several existing models for wave height distributions were compared and analysed. It appears that the generalised Boccotti’s distribution can predict the exceedance of large wave heights with good confidence.

Significance: Modulation instability (MI) is a ubiquitous phenomenon in physics, corresponding to the growth of a weakly modulated continuous wave in a nonlinear medium and leading to the generation of a large-amplitude periodic wave train. In space, it transforms weakly modulated plane waves into spatially periodic patterns. In frequency domain, the MI is the result of energy transfer from a strong single spectral component into sidebands. While linear stability analysis predicts a limited band of unstable frequencies of modulation, recent developments based on a nonlinear theory revealed the existence of MI beyond this limited frequency range. These experimental studies are the first experimental demonstrations of the “extraordinary” MI phenomenon. Achieved both in optics and hydrodynamics, they clearly further highlight the interdisciplinary of this process.

We report an experimental study on the modulation instability process and associated rogue breathers for the case of stationary periodic background waves, namely dnoidal and cnoidal envelopes. Despite being well-known solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE), the stability of such background waves has remained unexplored experimentally until now, unlike the constant-amplitude plane wave. By means of two experimental setups, namely, in nonlinear optics and hydrodynamics, we observe the spontaneous modulation instability gain seeded by input random noise and the formation of rogue breathers induced by a coherent perturbation. Our observations are in excellent agreement with the NLSE dynamics.

Wave breaking is the main mechanism that dissipates energy input into ocean waves by wind and transferred across the spectrum by nonlinearity. It determines the properties of a sea state and plays a crucial role in ocean-atmosphere interaction, ocean pollution, and rogue waves. Owing to its turbulent nature, wave breaking remains too computationally demanding to solve using direct numerical simulations except in simple, short-duration circumstances. To overcome this challenge, we present a blended machine learning framework in which a physics-based nonlinear evolution model for deep-water, non-breaking waves and a recurrent neural network are combined to predict the evolution of breaking waves. We use wave tank measurements rather than simulations to provide training data and use a long short-term memory neural network to apply a finite-domain correction to the evolution model. Our blended machine learning framework gives excellent predictions of breaking and its effects on wave evolution, including for external data.

Nonlinear wave focusing originating from the universal modulation instability (MI) is responsible for the formation of strong wave localizations on the water surface and in nonlinear wave guides, such as optical Kerr media and plasma. Such extreme wave dynamics can be described by breather solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) like by way of example the famed doubly-localized Peregrine breathers (PB), which typify particular cases of MI. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the MI relevance weakens when the wave field becomes broadband or directional. Here, we provide experimental evidence of nonlinear and distinct PB-type focusing in standing water waves describing the scenario of two counterpropagating wave trains. The collected collinear wave measurements are in excellent agreement with the hydrodynamic coupled NLSE (CNLSE) and suggest that MI can undisturbedly prevail during the interplay of several wave systems and emphasize the potential role of exact NLSE solutions in extreme wave formation beyond the formal narrow band and unidirectional limits. Our work may inspire further experimental investigations in various nonlinear wave guides governed by CNLSE frameworks as well as theoretical progress to predict strong wave coherence in directional fields.

Solitons are coherent structures that describe the nonlinear evolution of wave localizations in hydrodynamics, optics, plasma and Bose-Einstein condensates. While the Peregrine breather is known to amplify a single localized perturbation of a carrier wave of finite amplitude by a factor of three, there is a counterpart solution on zero background known as the degenerate two-soliton which also leads to high amplitude maxima. In this study, we report several observations of such multi-soliton with doubly-localized peaks in a water wave flume. The data collected in this experiment confirm the distinctive attainment of wave amplification by a factor of two in good agreement with the dynamics of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation solution. Advanced numerical simulations solving the problem of nonlinear free water surface boundary conditions of an ideal fluid quantify the physical limitations of the degenerate two-soliton in hydrodynamics.