A fourth order evolution equation for capillary-gravity waves including the effects of wind input and shear in the water current

A fourth order nonlinear evolution equation is derived for capillary gravity waves in deep water including the effect of a surface drift current in the water and shear in the air flow. From this evolution equation instability conditions are derived for a uniform capillary-gravity wave train. Graphs are plotted showing the maximum growth rate of instability and instability regions for weakly damped (linearly) and weakly growing (linearly) waves for some different values of friction velocity of the flow. From these graphs it is found that the effect of the wind input and shear in water current is to produce a decrease in the growth rate for weakly damped (linearly) waves and to produce an increase in growth rate for weakly growing (linearly) waves. The shear in the water current and the wind input are found to produce a shrinkage in the instability regions.