| The reduced Ostrovsky equation is a modification of the Korteweg-de Vries equation, in which the usual linear dispersive term with a third-order derivative is replaced by a linear non-local integral term, which represents the effect of background rotation. This equation is integrable provided a certain curvature constraint is satisfied. We demonstrate, through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, that when this curvature constraint is not satisfied at the initial time, then wave breaking inevitably occurs. |