Vertically Driven Waves: Energy Transfer Between Gravity Waves Revisited

Abstract

We investigate the energy transfer from large waves to small ones through vertical acceleration and demonstrate that this is a much larger effect than that of the potential energy changes of the small waves moving over the larger ones. Rates of exponential growth for this process are given and limits on the stable size of small waves in the horizontal accelerations from the larger ones are derived. We discuss the possibility of this being a manifestation of the Benjamin-Feir instability.