University Calendar

Diane Henderson, Penn State University

About the Seminar

We consider the observed phenomenon of downshifting of freely-propagating, narrow-banded, surface-gravity waves. Downshifting is defined as either a decrease in the spectral peak or as a decrease in the average wavenumber (frequency) of the spectrum during evolution. We summarize the available models and compare with our laboratory experiments. Experiments show that both dissipation and large amplitudes are required for downshifting. So, we are interested in understanding how to include these effects in models to quantitatively describe the evolution of the measurable Fourier components of the evolving spectrum.