We often think of our natural environment as being composed of very many interacting particles, undergoing individual chaotic motions, of which only very coarse averages are perceptible at scales natural to us. However, we could as well think of the world as being made out of individual waves. This is so not just because the distinction between waves and particles becomes rather blurred at the atomic level, but also because even phenomena at much larger scales are better describedin terms of waves rather than of particles: It is rare in both fluids and solids to observe energy being carried from one region of space to another by a given set of material particles; much more often, this transfer occurs through chains of particles, neither of them moving much, but eachcommunicating with the next, and hence creating these immaterial objects we call waves. Waves occur at many spatial and temporal scales. Many of these waves have small enough amplitude that they can be approximately described by linear theory. However, the joint effect of large sets of waves is governed by nonlinear interactions which are responsible for huge cascades of energy among very disparate scales. Understanding these energy transfers is crucial in order to determine the response oflarge systems, such as the atmosphere and the ocean, to external forcings and dissipation mechanisms which act on scales decades apart. The field of wave turbulence attempts to understand the average behavior of large ensembles of waves, subjected to forcing and dissipation at opposite ends of theirspectrum. It does so by studying individual mechanisms for energy transfer, such as resonant triads and quartets, and attempting to draw from them effects that should not survive averaging. This book presents the proceedings of the AMS-IMS-SIAM Joint Summer Research Conference on Dispersive Wave Turbulence held at Mt. Holyoke College (MA). It drew together a group of researchers from many corners of the world, in the context of a perceived renaissance of the field, driven by heated debate aboutthe fundamental mechanism of energy transfer among large sets of waves, as well as by novel applications-and old ones revisited-to the understanding of the natural world. These proceedings reflect the spirit that permeated the conference, that of friendly scientific disagreement and genuine wonderat the rich phenomenology of waves.

Wave or weak turbulence is a branch of science concerned with the evolution of random wave fields of all kinds and on all scales, from waves in galaxies to capillary waves on water surface, from waves in nonlinear optics to quantum fluids. In spite of the enormous diversity of wave fields in nature, there is a common conceptual and mathematical core which allows to describe the processes of random wave interactions within the same conceptual paradigm, and in the same language. The development of this core and its links with the applications is the essence of wave turbulence science (WT) which is an established integral part of nonlinear science.The book comprising seven reviews aims at discussing new challenges in WT and perspectives of its development. A special emphasis is made upon the links between the theory and experiment. Each of the reviews is devoted to a particular field of application (there is no overlap), or a novel approach or idea. The reviews cover a variety of applications of WT, including water waves, optical fibers, WT experiments on a metal plate and observations of astrophysical WT.

This book is a useful source of ideas and information for scientists whose work involves understanding and modelling turbulent flows with free surfaces. It has the following merits: (1) It provides a framework for developing the analysis of this field, which, although important, has received only limited study; (2) It recognizes the importance of the two-phase nature of strongly disturbed free surface flows, with both natural and technological applications; (3) It suggests possible lines of future research (especially experimental) to quantify the characteristics of flow regimes which are mainly known qualitatively at present.

This book is a useful source of ideas and information for scientists whose work involves understanding and modelling turbulent flows with free surfaces. It has the following merits: (1) It provides a framework for developing the analysis of this field, which, although important, has received only limited study; (2) It recognizes the importance of the two-phase nature of strongly disturbed free surface flows, with both natural and technological applications; (3) It suggests possible lines of future research (especially experimental) to quantify the characteristics of flow regimes which are mainly known qualitatively at present.

This book was published in 2004. The Interaction of Ocean Waves and Wind describes in detail the two-way interaction between wind and ocean waves and shows how ocean waves affect weather forecasting on timescales of 5 to 90 days. Winds generate ocean waves, but at the same time airflow is modified due to the loss of energy and momentum to the waves; thus, momentum loss from the atmosphere to the ocean depends on the state of the waves. This volume discusses ocean wave evolution according to the energy balance equation. An extensive overview of nonlinear transfer is given, and as a by-product the role of four-wave interactions in the generation of extreme events, such as freak waves, is discussed. Effects on ocean circulation are described. Coupled ocean-wave, atmosphere modelling gives improved weather and wave forecasts. This volume will interest ocean wave modellers, physicists and applied mathematicians, and engineers interested in shipping and coastal protection.

...useful source of ideas and information for scientists whose work involves understanding and modelling turbulent flows with free surfaces

Wave Turbulence refers to the statistical theory of weakly nonlinear dispersive waves. There is a wide and growing spectrum of physical applications, ranging from sea waves, to plasma waves, to superfluid turbulence, to nonlinear optics and Bose-Einstein condensates. Beyond the fundamentals the book thus also covers new developments such as the interaction of random waves with coherent structures (vortices, solitons, wave breaks), inverse cascades leading to condensation and the transitions between weak and strong turbulence, turbulence intermittency as well as finite system size effects, such as “frozen” turbulence, discrete wave resonances and avalanche-type energy cascades. This book is an outgrow of several lectures courses held by the author and, as a result, written and structured rather as a graduate text than a monograph, with many exercises and solutions offered along the way. The present compact description primarily addresses students and non-specialist researchers wishing to enter and work in this field.