Trimodal steady water waves

Abstract

We construct three-dimensional families of small-amplitude gravity-driven rotational steady water waves on finite depth. The solutions contain counter-currents and multiple crests in each minimal period. Each such wave generically is a combination of three different Fourier modes, giving rise to a rich and complex variety of wave patterns. The bifurcation argument is based on a blow-up technique, taking advantage of three parameters associated with the vorticity distribution, the strength of the background stream, and the period of the wave.