Instabilities are common phenomena frequently observed in nature, sometimes leading to unexpected catastrophes and disasters in seemingly normal conditions. One prominent form of instability in a distributed system is its response to a harmonic modulation. Such instability has special names in various branches of physics and is generally known as modulation instability (MI). The MI leads to a growth-decay cycle of unstable waves and is therefore related to Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) recurrence since breather solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) are known to accurately describe growth and decay of modulationally unstable waves in conservative systems. Here, we report theoretical, numerical and experimental evidence of the effect of dissipation on FPU cycles in a super wave tank, namely their shift in a determined order. In showing that ideal NLSE breather solutions can describe such dissipative nonlinear dynamics, our results may impact the interpretation of a wide range of new physics scenarios.

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were performed in a wave tank under water waves propagating and breaking on a 1/15 sloping beach. The wave transformation occurred in the surf zone over a large domain covering several wavelengths from incipient breaking to swash zone beyond the shoreline. PIV spatial interrogation windows must be small enough to obtain accurate velocities, and one window covers only a small part of the domain. To overcome this problem and to measure the instantaneous velocity field over the whole surf zone area, we have split the full field into 14 overlapping smaller windows of the same size. Local measurements were synchronized with each other using pulsed TTL triggers and wave gauge data. The full velocity field was then reconstructed at every time step by gathering the 14 PIV fields. We then measured the complete space–time evolution of the velocity field over the whole surf zone. We determined also the ensemble-period-average and phase-average components of the flow with their associated fluctuating parts. We used the PIV images and velocity measurements to estimate the void fraction in each point of the surf zone. Special attention was given to the calculation of the spatial derivatives in order to obtain relevant information on vorticity and on the physical terms that appear in the fluctuating kinetic energy transport equation.

We present the first ever observation of dark solitons on the surface of water. It takes the form of an amplitude drop of the carrier wave which does not change shape in propagation. The shape and width of the soliton depend on the water depth, carrier frequency, and the amplitude of the background wave. The experimental data taken in a water tank show an excellent agreement with the theory. These results may improve our understanding of the nonlinear dynamics of water waves at finite depths.

The input of energy by wind to water waves is compared with the observed growth of the waves using a suite of microphysical measurement techniques in the laboratory. These include measured tangential stresses in the water and air immediately adjacent to the interface with corresponding form drag measurements above wind-forced freely propagating waves. The drag data sets are consistent but the comparison has highlighted important issues in relation to the measurement of fluctuating pressures above freely propagating waves. Derived normalized wind input values show good collapse as a function of mean wave steepness and are significantly in excess of the assembly of net wave growth measurements by Peirson & Garcia (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 608, 2008, pp. 243–274) at low steepness. Sheltering coefficients in the form of Jeffreys (Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser.A, vol. 107, 1925, pp. 189–206) are derived that are consistent with values previously obtained by Donelan & Pierson (J. Geophys. Res., vol. 92, 1987, pp. 4971–5029), Donelan (Wind-over-Wave Couplings: Perspectives and Prospects, Clarendon, 1999, pp. 183–194) and Donelanet al. (J. Phys. Oceanogr., vol. 36, 2006, pp. 1672–1689). The sheltering coefficients exhibit substantial scatter. By carefully measuring the associated growth of the surface wave fields, systematic energy budgets for the interaction between wind and waves are obtained. For non-breaking waves, there is a significant and systematic misclose in the radiative transfer equation if wave–turbulence interactions are not included. Significantly higher levels of turbulent wave attenuation are found in comparison with the theoretical estimates by Teixeira & Belcher (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 458, 2002, pp. 229–267) and Ardhuin & Jenkins (J. Phys. Oceanogr., vol. 36, 2006, pp. 551–557). Suitable normalizations of attenuation for wind-forced wave fields exhibit consistent behaviour in the presence and absence of wave breaking. Closure of the surface energy flux budget is obtained by comparing the normalized energy loss rates due to breaking with the values previously determined by Banner & Peirson (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 585, 2007, pp. 93–115) and Drazenet al.(J. Fluid Mech., vol. 611, 2008, pp. 307–332) when expressed as a function of mean wave steepness. Their normalized energy loss rates obtained for non-wind forced breaking wave groups are remarkably consistent with the levels found during this present study when breaking waves are subject to wind forcing.

The evolution of the airflow instantaneous structure over an unsteady breaking wave propagating in a group is measured in detail using the digital particle image velocimetry technique. It is found that the boundary-layer over a breaking wave, the steepest in the group, separates at a point close to the sharp crest and reattaches in the front slope of the following wave. During breaking, the evolution of the turbulent vorticity is essentially unsteady and the recirculation zone of the separated flow takes the form of a large well-organized vortex. Links between the wave-crest geometry and geometrical features of the separation bubble have been established.