Weak compressibility of surface wave turbulence

We study the growth of small-scale inhomogeneities of the density of particles floating in weakly nonlinear, small-amplitude, surface waves. Despite the amplitude smallness, the accumulated effect of the long-time evolution may produce strongly inhomogeneous distribution of the floaters: density fluctuations grow exponentially with a small but finite exponent. We show that the exponent is of sixth or higher order in wave amplitude. As a result, the inhomogeneities do not form within typical time-scales of the natural environment. We conclude that turbulence of surface waves is weakly compressible and alone it cannot be a realistic mechanism of the clustering of matter on liquid surfaces.

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