Dispersion of a passive tracer by water waves is of significant importance for many scientific and technological problems including bio-diversity of marine life, ecological impact of anthropogenic incidents, planning of rescue operation and global oceanic transport. Formally, turbulent dispersion of a passive tracer by surface waves is a Brownian motion caused by a prescribed noise, viz., random fluctuations of the wave field. From this perspective, it is similar to the conventional dispersion by tracer particles by turbulent flows initially described in the seminal work of Richardson, Taylor and Obukhov. The additional challenges of this problem are imposed by the complexity of the underlining wave field—different dispersion relations and correlation structure, directionality and its spread, wave breaking—and this complexity necessitates further theoretical and experimental research. The aim of the present study is experimental validation of scaling relations for the mean drift and mean variance of tracer particles predicted by the wave turbulence theory. We report results of a set of targeted experiments in a large three-dimensional wave tank where the positions of the tracer particles—modelled as surface drifters—were tracked down with optical cameras. The experimental data are analysed and discussed in the light of the weak turbulence theory.

水浪传播无源示踪剂对许多科学和技术问题具有重要意义，这些问题包括海洋生物的多样性，人为事件的生态影响，救援行动的规划和全球海洋运输。形式上，无源示踪剂在表面波的作用下的湍流扩散是由规定的噪声（即波场的随机波动）引起的布朗运动。从这个角度来看，它类似于在Richardson，Taylor和Obukhov的开创性著作中最初描述的通过湍流通过示踪剂颗粒进行的常规分散。下划线波场的复杂性（不同的色散关系和相关结构，方向性及其传播，破波—这种复杂性需要进一步的理论和实验研究。本研究的目的是通过波动湍流理论预测的示踪粒子平均漂移和平均方差的比例关系的实验验证。我们报告了在一个大型三维波箱中进行的一组针对性实验的结果，该示波器中的示踪剂粒子（建模为表面漂移物）的位置已通过光学相机进行了追踪。根据弱湍流理论对实验数据进行了分析和讨论。我们报告了在一个大型三维波箱中进行的一组针对性实验的结果，该示波器中的示踪剂粒子（建模为表面漂移物）的位置已通过光学相机进行了追踪。根据弱湍流理论对实验数据进行了分析和讨论。我们报告了在一个大型三维波箱中进行的一组针对性实验的结果，该示波器中的示踪剂粒子（建模为表面漂移物）的位置已通过光学相机进行了追踪。根据弱湍流理论对实验数据进行了分析和讨论。