Turbulent Flow and Large Surface Wave Events in the Marine Boundary Layers

Abstract

The long term objective of our research for the "High Resolution Air-Sea Interaction" (HRES) Departmental Research Initiative (DRI) is to identify the couplings between large wave events, winds, and currents in the surface layer of the marine boundary layers. Turbulence resolving large eddy simulations (LESs) and direct numerical simulations (DNSs) of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) in the presence of time and space varying wave fields will be the main tools used to elucidate wind-wave-current interactions. A suite of turbulence simulations over realistic seas using idealized and observed pressure gradients will be carried out to compliment the field observations collected in moderate to high winds. The database of simulations will be used to generate statistical moments, interrogated for coherent structures, and ultimately used to compare with HRES observations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA495358

Entities

People

  • James C. McWilliams
  • Peter P Sullivan

Organizations

  • National Center for Atmospheric Research

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Boundaries
  • Boundary Layer
  • Computational Science
  • Flow
  • Fluid Flow
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Large Eddy Simulation
  • Layers
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Simulations
  • Surface Waves
  • Three Dimensional
  • Turbulent Flow
  • Two Dimensional
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science
  • Physics

Readers

  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers

Technology Areas

  • Space