Plate 
reality of the physical situation. Instead, the spectra of the water 
surface might be determined fully or at least to a large extend by the 
dominant wave. Further progress in understanding ocean waves must 
then be expected to come from a study of the energy balance of the 
dominant waves. In pursuit of this model one can relate the equili- 
brium range ''constant'' @ to the accerelation and thus to the slope 
of the dominant wave, and one can explain the spectrum as essential- 
ly that of the dominant wave alone which has been distorted and sha- 
ped into a continuous spectrum by the randomness of the generation 
process and by the analysis methods by which the spectra have been 
determined. Of the essential correctness of this model I am so con- 
vinced that I recommend to future workers on ocean waves to direct 
their attention to the characteristics of the dominant waves and to 
develop statistical techniques, such as the ones used by Chang et, al. 
(1971) or Konda et.al. (1971) to isolate the dominant wave and the 
associated wind pattern from the records of measured ocean surface 
waves, and to analyse their behaviour as function of space, time, 
and wind field. 
The results of such studies will find important applications 
in modeling forces on structures, which are caused by wind-genera- 
ted water surface waves. Most of the conclusions concerning mode- 
ling the similarity spectrum as arrived at by Plate and Nath (1969) 
apply equally well to the modeling of dominant waves, with the impor- 
tant distinction that now the frequency of the dominant wave must be 
matched with the structural eigenfrequencies. 
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