- Office: 238 Norman C. Francis (NCF) Science Complex
- Phone: 504-520-7643
- E-mail: jgraber(at)xula.edu
- Webpage: http://webusers.xula.edu/jgraber/index.html
Extremely tall waves called freak waves are much more common than previously thought. Freak waves may be generated by refraction of ocean waves through regions of random currents. These areas have a higher-than-normal probability of freak wave formation even without taking into account the nonlinearity of wave evolution. I am working with Dr. Lev Kaplan of Tulane University in looking at the effects of the nonlinearity of the wave equation on the probability of freak wave formation. My students and I run a computer simulation of the nonlinear wave equation through a field of varying currents and compile the statistics of freak wave formation. I am also trying to solve the equation analytically in certain reasonable limiting cases.