Observation of gravity-capillary wave turbulence

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental observation of the transition between gravity and capillary wave turbulence on mercury's surface, analyzing wave height statistics and spectra, and comparing findings with weak turbulence theory.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental observation of the gravity-capillary wave turbulence crossover and examines the spectral scaling and probability density functions.

Findings

Wave height PDFs are asymmetric and non-Gaussian.

Power-law spectra are observed in both regimes.

Spectral scaling with energy flux disagrees with weak turbulence theory.

Abstract

We report the observation of the cross-over between gravity and capillary wave turbulence on the surface of mercury. The probability density functions of the turbulent wave height are found to be asymmetric and thus non Gaussian. The surface wave height displays power-law spectra in both regimes. In the capillary region, the exponent is in fair agreement with weak turbulence theory. In the gravity region, it depends on the forcing parameters. This can be related to the finite size of the container. In addition, the scaling of those spectra with the mean energy flux is found in disagreement with weak turbulence theory for both regimes.