Experimental study of the formation of steep waves and breakers

Breaking waves (whitecaps) are one of the most important and least understood processes associated with the evolution of the surface gravity wave field in the open sea. This process is the principal means by which energy and momentum are transferred away from a developing sea. However, an estimation of the frequency of breaking waves or the fraction of sea surface covered by whitecaps and the amount of dissipated energy induced by breaking is very difficult to carry out under real sea conditions. A controlled experiment, funded by the European Commission under the Improving Human Potential Access Infrastructures programme, was carried out in the Ocean Basin Laboratory at MARINTEK, Trondheim (Norway). Simulation of random waves of the prescribed spectra by wave makers provided a very realistic pattern of the sea surface. The number of breaking waves was estimated by photographing the sea surface and recording the noise caused by the breaking waves. The experimental data will serve for calibration of the theoretical models of the sea surface fraction related to the whitecaps.