On the applicability of the Hasselmann kinetic equation to the Phillips spectrum

Abstract

We investigate applicability of the Hasselmann kinetic equation to the spectrum of surface gravity waves at different levels of nonlinearity in the system, which is measured as average steepness. It is shown that even in the case of relatively high average steepness, when Phillips spectrum is present in the system, the spectral lines are still very narrow, at least in the region of direct cascade spectrum. It allows us to state that even in the case of Phillips spectrum the kinetic equation can be applied to the description of the ensembles of ocean waves.