BOUND WAVE RELEASE INDUCED BY SHORT WAVE BREAKING – TRUE OR FALSE?

It is widely assumed that incident bound long waves are released during short wave breaking, subsequently propagating to the shore as a free wave. Statements asserting this release are either unattributed, or loosely attributed to Longuet-Higgins and Stewart (1962). However, the author is unaware of convincing evidence of such release of bound long waves as a result of short wave breaking, while there appears to be strong evidence to the contrary. The author's interpretation is that Longuet-Higgins and Stewart (1962) suggest that the bound wave will decay in amplitude following short wave breaking. This is in agreement with a number of the author's data sets and some data from other recent data sets, including field observations of strong nearshore dissipation of long waves. A surf beat similarity parameter is also suggested, which distinguishes different regimes of surf beat generation.