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Abstract

Four different parameterizations of the nonlinear energy transfer Snl in a surface wave spectrum are in investigated. Two parameterizations are based on a relatively small number of parameters and are useful primarily for application in parametrical or hybrid wave models. In the first parameterization, shape-distortion parameters are introduced to relate the distribution Snl for different values of the peak-enhancement parameter γ. The second parameterization is based on an EOF expansion of a set of Snl computed for a number of different spectral distributions. The remaining two parameterizations represent operator forms that contain the same number of free parameters as used to describe he wave spectrum. Such parameterizations with a matched number of input and output parameters are required for numerical stability in high-resolution discrete spectral models. A cubic, fourth-order diffusion-operator expression derived by a local-interaction expansion is found to be useful for understanding many of the properties of Snl, but is regarded as too inaccurate in detail for application in most wave models. The best results are achieved with a discrete-interaction operator parameterization, in which a single interaction configuration, together with its mirror image (representing a two-dimensional continuum of interactions with respect to a variable reference wavenumber scale and direction) is used to simulate the net effect of the full five-dimensional interaction continuum.