On the probability of down-crossing and up-crossing rogue waves

Abstract

By means of the direct numerical simulation of directional waves on the surface of deep water, it is shown that extreme waves can exhibit such asymmetry that the occurrence of deeper troughs is several times more likely on the wave rear slopes. This effect becomes most pronounced in the case of steep short-crested waves. It is not related to the Benjamin–Feir instability but is a result of complex contribution from nonlinear combination harmonics, mainly cubic in nonlinearity. The discovered asymmetry can lead to remarkably different estimates of the rogue wave probability based on either down- or up-zero-crossing methods for individual wave selection, commonly used in the oceanography.