title: Excitation of rogue waves in a variable medium: an experimental study on the interaction of water waves and currents.
abstract: We show experimentally that a stable wave propagating into a region characterized by an opposite current may become modulationally unstable. Experiments have been performed in two independent wave tank facilities; both of them are equipped with a wavemaker and a pump for generating a current propagating in the opposite direction with respect to the waves. The experimental results support a recent conjecture based on a current-modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation which establishes that rogue waves can be triggered by a nonhomogeneous current characterized by a negative horizontal velocity gradient.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ocean Engineering Science and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, P. O. Box 218, Hawthorn, 3122 Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toffoli
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Waseda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Houtani
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Proment
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onorato
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009038:Motion; D012212:Rheology / Q000379:methods*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D014872:Water Movements
chemical_list: D014867:Water