Experimental Evaluation of the Atmospheric Energy Input to Sea Surface Waves
Abstract
Understanding the spatio-temporal structure and the dynamic influence of the surface waves signature in the wind is critical for the transition from the current empirical and phenomenological (dating back to Charnock (1956)), to a mechanistic description of air-sea interaction. Over the last decades, however, a number of observational studies attempting to detect statistical and dynamic manifestations of wave signature in the airflow have produced negative results. Weiler and Burling (1967) have failed to find a dominant peak at the frequency of the surface waves, although all spectra had appreciable energy about this frequency . Schacher et al. (1981) determined that the measured kinetic energy dissipation rate over the ocean was virtually no different from that quantity measured over land. Van Atta and Chen (1970) found the second and third order structure functions of wind velocity over the ocean to be in close agreement with the original Kolmogorov theory, i.e. no wave influence was detected in the structure functions. As an important dynamic description of the atmospheric boundary layer, the kinetic energy balance has been studied repeatedly over waves (Edson and Fairall (1998), Taylor and Yelland (2000), Sjoblom and Smedman (2002)) to seek signs of surface motion penetration into the wind. Edson and Fairall (1998) have hypothesized that the lack of observable wave signature in the kinetic energy budget possibly stems from wave effects being confined to a thin layer over the surface, well below the positions of the measuring instruments used. Consistent with that hypothesis, later marine atmospheric boundary layer models, e.g. Hara and Belcher (2002), assumed small penetration height of the wave influence L , such that kL <<1 for wave effects of a surface mode of wave number k . Hasse and Dobson (1986) expected that wave-induced velocity in the wind would be difficult to observe with the turbulence always present.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA557087
Entities
People
- Tihomir Hristov
Organizations
- Johns Hopkins University