Soliton groups as the reason for extreme statistics of unidirectional sea waves

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that large, long-lived soliton-like groups significantly increase the probability of extreme waves in deep-water conditions, highlighting the importance of rare coherent structures in wave statistics.

Contribution

It reveals that soliton groups are key factors in extreme wave statistics, emphasizing the need to consider these rare events in probabilistic models of sea waves.

Findings

Soliton groups can cause extreme wave events.

Rare coherent structures influence wave statistics.

Large ensembles are necessary to capture these events.

Abstract

The results of the probabilistic analysis of the direct numerical simulations of irregular unidirectional deep-water waves are discussed. It is shown that an occurrence of large-amplitude soliton-like groups represents an extraordinary case, which is able to increase noticeably the probability of high waves even in moderately rough sea conditions. The ensemble of wave realizations should be large enough to take these rare events into account. Hence we provide a striking example when long-living coherent structures make the water wave statistics extreme.