Intermittency and Coherent Structures Near the Air-sea Interface in the Planetary Boundary Layers

Abstract

LONG-TERM GOAL. Our primary, long-term objective is to understand turbulence in the planetary boundary layers (PBLs) on the basis of its calculation through large-eddy simulation (LES) techniques. There are many aspects to achieving this understanding: exploring the variety of large and meso-scale environments that occur in nature; achieving sufficiently large Reynolds number (Re) so that the intermittent inertial behavior is qualitatively similar to that in nature; determining the space-time distributions of and controlling circumstances for the cascade, dissipation, and air-sea fluxes; determining the character and dynamical roles of coherent structures in the PBL; examining the interactions of surface gravity waves and PBL turbulence; discovering the degree to which significant coupling occurs between the oceanic and atmospheric PBLs; and developing better PBL and air-sea flux parameterizations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 1997
Accession Number
ADA635050

Entities

People

  • Chin-hoh Moeng
  • James C. McWilliams
  • Peter P Sullivan

Organizations

  • University of California, Los Angeles

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundaries
  • Boundary Layer
  • Buoyancy
  • Electronic Mail
  • Flow
  • Flow Visualization
  • Gravity
  • Gravity Waves
  • High Resolution
  • Large Eddy Simulation
  • Layers
  • Military Research
  • Remote Sensing
  • Surface Waves
  • Three Dimensional
  • Turbulent Flow
  • Waves

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science
  • Physics

Readers

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

Technology Areas

  • Space