Role of short and long-wave interaction on wave celerity in the surf zone of a low-sloping beach

International audienceA good prediction of wave celerity is essential for wave propagation modeling in the nearshore. Previous studies have been focusing on the analysis of wave celerities averaged over several waves, neglecting the intra-wave variability due to long-wave transformation for instance. This paper is devoted to a study of individual wave transformation in the surf zone of a low-sloping beach, based on the analysis of a high-resolution laboratory dataset. The variability of the individual wave celerity in the surf zone is quantified and is seen to relate with the local elevation of the long waves normalized by the mean water depth. Lastly, individual wave celerities are compared to the predictions given by several linear and non-linear models