The increased drift of steep focusing surface gravity waves

Irrotational monochromatic surface gravity waves possess a mean Lagrangian drift which transports mass and enhances mixing in the upper ocean. In the ocean, where many surface waves are present, it is commonly assumed that the mean Lagrangian drift can be computed independently for each wave component and summed. Here we show, using laboratory measurements and fully nonlinear simulations of two-dimensional steep focusing wave packets, that this assumption underpredicts the average transport in regions of wave focusing by up to $30\,\%$ . To explain these enhancements, we derive a new exact method for constraining the local mean Lagrangian drift in general flows by working in the Lagrangian reference frame. From this method, we derive an expression for the local mean Lagrangian drift in deep-water narrow-banded wave fields governed by the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) that predicts near-surface enhancements when waves focus and steepen. The theoretical predictions of the local transport agree with the laboratory measurements, particularly for smaller bandwidth packets where the NLSE approximation is most valid. These findings highlight that it is the local steepness of the wave field, not just the sum of the steepnesses of the linear (non-interacting) wave components, which sets the strength of these enhancements.