Laboratory Experiments on Statistics of Shoaling Finite Amplitude Waves

The formation, growth and increase in the frequency of extreme waves over the coast has been consistently observed and reproduced in laboratory experiments in recent years. On the other hand, as soon as waves reach the surfzone, a new regime comes into play where sub-Gaussian wave statistics dominate, as described by Glukhovskiy-type of height distributions. Dealing with a wave field transitioning from steady-state to out-of-equilibrium conditions due to a steep shoal, available theories can model the rogue wave amplification near shallow water regimes before the surf zone. Nevertheless, theoretical work to date has also been limited to small amplitude waves, thus, far from a wave breaking regime. To connect these two regimes (prior to and post the surf zone), we experimentally probe inhomogeneous finite amplitude wave fields that overlap both.