A windy sea surface with Stokes waves

Nikhil Yewale; Anil Kumar; Vinod Kadari; Ratul Dasgupta

A windy sea surface with Stokes waves

Fluid Dynamics 2026-08-04 v1 Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics

Authors: Nikhil Yewale , Anil Kumar , Vinod Kadari , Ratul Dasgupta

Abstract

Predicting the transition of wind-forced, gravito-capillary surface waves from smooth to corrugated states remains a longstanding problem in nonlinear wave mechanics. Solving driven-dissipative, nonlinear potential flow equations we map these waves ( $4-13$ cm) onto a Reynolds number -- wave energy phase-space. We identify a transition band separating smooth from corrugated wave states - the wave steepness exhibits a non-monotonic dependence on Reynolds number within this. Subharmonic (in)stability analysis reveals that the fastest-growing mode intensifies corrugations on alternate faces of the carrier wave, offering insights with broad implications for interfacial pattern-formation and oceanic remote-sensing.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2608.03657,
  title  = {A windy sea surface with Stokes waves},
  author = {Nikhil Yewale and Anil Kumar and Vinod Kadari and Ratul Dasgupta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.03657},
  year   = {2026}
}