Multiple forms for standing waves in deep water periodic in both space
and time are obtained analytically as solutions of Zakharov's equatio
n and its modification, and investigated computationally as irrotation
al two-dimensional solutions of the full nonlinear boundary value prob
lem. The different forms are based on weak nonlinear interactions betw
een the fundamental harmonic and the resonating harmonics of 2, 3, ...
times the frequency and 4, 9,... respectively times the wavenumber. T
he new forms of standing waves have amplitudes with local maxima at th
e resonating harmonics, unlike the classical (Stokes) standing wave wh
ich is dominated by the fundamental harmonic. The stability of the new
standing waves is investigated for small to moderate wave energies by
numerical computation of their evolution, starting from the standing
wave solution whose only initial disturbance is the numerical error. T
he instability of the Stokes standing wave to sideband disturbances is
demonstrated first, by showing the evolution into cyclic recurrence t
hat occurs when a set of nine equal Stokes standing waves is perturbed
by a standing wave of a length equal to the total length of the nine
waves. The cyclic recurrence is similar to that observed in the well-k
nown linear instability and sideband modulation of Stokes progressive
waves, and is also similar to that resulting from the evolution of the
new standing waves in which the first and ninth harmonics are dominan
t. The new standing waves are only marginally unstable at small to mod
erate wave energies, with harmonics which remain near their initial am
plitudes and phases for typically 100-1000 wave periods before evolvin
g into slowly modulated oscillations or diverging.