On determining the onset and strength of breaking for deep water waves. Part I: Unforced irrotational wave groups

Finding a robust threshold variable that determines the onset of breaking for deep water waves has been an elusive problem for many decades. Recent numerical studies of the unforced evolution of two-dimensional nonlinear wave trains have highlighted the complex evolution to recurrence or breaking, together with the fundamental role played by nonlinear intrawave group dynamics. In Part I of this paper the scope of two-dimensional nonlinear wave group calculations is extended by using a wave-group- following approach applied to a wider class of initial wave group geometries, with the primary goal of identifying the differences between evolution to recurrence and to breaking onset. Part II examines the additional influences of wind forcing and background shear on these evolution processes. The present investigation focuses on the long-term evolution of the maximum of the local energy density along wave groups. It contributes a more complete picture, both long-term and short-term, of the approach to breaking and identifies a dimensionless local average growth rate parameter that is associated with the mean convergence of wave-coherent energy at the wave group maximum. This diagnostic growth rate appears to have a common threshold for all routes to breaking in deep water that have been examined and provides an earlier and more decisive indicator for the onset of breaking than previously proposed breaking thresholds. The authors suggest that this growth rate may also provide an indicative measure of the strength of wave breaking events.