Frequency-Dependent Energy Dissipation
of Irregular Breaking Waves

S. Yu. Kuznetsov and Ya. V. Saprykina

Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovskii pr. 36, Moscow, 117851 Russia

Received June 4, 2003

Abstract—Results of field experiments and simulation are used to study the hypothesis that energy dissipation
from irregular breaking waves can have a nonuniform distribution over the frequency. It was found that the wave
energy dissipation in the outer surf zone is practically independent of the frequency and can be approximated
by a constant. A quadratic or a selective (at the frequency band of second–third harmonics) dependence of
energy dissipation on frequency was found to form in the inner part of the surf zone, where it is controlled by
wave asymmetry and bed slope. The dissipation of the energy of breaking waves was shown to proceed in such
a way as to compensate for the effect of processes of linear or nonlinear deformation of waves.

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