Wavelets and Turbulence on the Sea Surface
Abstract
This contract's goals were to understand the physical processes determining the small scale structure of the sea surface, identify the roughness elements acting on the air side, explore the character and dynamics of short breaking wavelets on the water side, and quantify their role in the transfer of momentum, heat and mass across the air-sea interface. Analytical model studies were carried out on the dynamics of short, breaking wavelets, their momentum balance, interaction with the wind-induced shear flow at the surface, and the action of shear stress concentrations (spikes) on the upwind face of such wavelets. The conceptual model of the breaking wavelets developed in these studies (roller riding an irrotational wave) was applied to the important problem of air-sea gas transfer, and was shown to account for otherwise puzzling observations of gas transfer. A graduate research assistant supported by this contract applied a matrix inversion technique to explore the hydrodynamic instability of the coupled air-water shear flow at the sea surface. This method allowed the exploration of various physical effects on wavelet generation, and supported the construction of a new conceptual model for the small scale structure of the sea surface. (jhd)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA229862
Entities
People
- G. T. Csanady
Organizations
- Old Dominion University