We investigated the impact of nonlinear energy transfer (Snl) on wave fields by performing hindcast experiments and analyzing field data. This study highlights the impact of source terms on spectral shape under a realistic model setting. Analysis of spectral shape indicated that the Snl played a major role in maintaining the equilibrium range; it reacted to changes in the net external sources to cancel out the total source term. These results also show that the magnitude of high-frequency dissipation controls the spectral tail exponent and that the balanced net external source is responsible for the reproduction of the f4 power law behavior in the equilibrium range.
