Improving the Bulk Formula for Sea-Surface Fluxes

Abstract

Derive a more flexible form of the bulk formula for sea-surface fluxes that does not require compliance with Monin-Obukhov similarity theory nor definition of the surface roughness length. The most important objectives are to generalize the bulk formula to: (a) better approximate fluxes for stable weak-wind cases to accommodate the influence of unresolved mesoscale motions, (b) account for reduced efficiency of moisture fluxes over cooler water, (c) allow for confused seas and weak winds dominated by mesoscale motions through probability distributions of transfer coefficients and (d) re-examine the bulk for formula for strong wind conditions.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 14, 2011
Accession Number
ADA538852

Entities

People

  • Larry J. Mahrt

Organizations

  • Oregon State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Algorithms
  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Buoyancy
  • Coefficients
  • Data Sets
  • Department Of Defense
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Flux
  • Latent Heat
  • Moisture
  • Momentum
  • Probability
  • Probability Distributions
  • Roughness
  • Surface Roughness
  • Universities

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Strategic Security Studies