Nonlinear Modulation of Gravity Waves

Abstract

Slow modulation of gravity waves on water layer with uniform depth is investigated by using singular perturbation methods. It is found, to the lowest order of perturbation, that the complicated system of equations governing such modulation can be reduced to a simple nonlinear Schrödinger equation. A nonlinear plane wave solution to this equation is found to correspond to the so-called Stokes wave. The linear stability of this plane wave solution is essentially determined by the sign of the product of two coefficients in this equation, yielding Benjamin and Whitham's criterion. The same equation is found to give a weak cnoidal wave derived from the Korteweg-de Vries equation in the shallow-water limit.