In this paper, we first describe the experimental set-up and the observed
evolution of the walker wave field with increasing excitation . In § 4, we present
a phenomenological model of the walker wave field resulting from the superposition
of waves emitted. We then measure the formation and decay of the wave resulting
from a single impact on the interface , with and without periodic forcing. A fluid
mechanical approach demonstrates how this disturbance can excite, below the
Faraday instability threshold, a localized mode of Faraday waves. These results are
shown to provide an understanding of the main characteristics of the wave field
of a walker and the path-memory effect.