New Standing Solitary Waves in Water

By means of the parametric excitation of water waves in a Hele-Shaw cell, we report the existence of two new types of highly localized, standing surface waves of large amplitude. They are, respectively, of odd and even symmetry. Both standing waves oscillate subharmonically with the forcing frequency. The two-dimensional even pattern presents a certain similarity in the shape with the 3D axisymmetric oscillon originally recognized at the surface of a vertically vibrated layer of brass beads. The stable, 2D odd standing wave has never been observed before in any media.