Analysis of the Spectral Signature of Breaking Waves

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Wave breaking plays an important role in air-sea interaction processes that affect the world's climate and the cycle of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere. Over many decades, wave breaking is assumed to be spectrally broadbanded. Investigation of source function balance of short ocean waves, however, leads to the conclusion that dissipation function displays a quasi-singularity behavior. In other words, the spectral property of wave breaking is localized in wave-number, with a strong signature at wave components near 1 m or shorter, depending on the degree of swell influence. The result is consistent with observed properties of radar sea spikes and frequency characteristics.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA520445

Entities

People

  • D. W. Wang
  • P. A. Hwang

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Delta Functions
  • Dissipation
  • Doppler Effect
  • Electrical Solitons
  • Energy Transfer
  • Equations
  • Frequency
  • Gravity Waves
  • Greenhouse Gases
  • Information Operations
  • Military Research
  • Ocean Currents
  • Ocean Waves
  • Oceans
  • Surface Waves
  • Waves

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers