Observations of turbulence in the ocean surface boundary layer : energetics and transport

View/ Open
Date
2009-05Author
Gerbi, Gregory P.
Concept link
Trowbridge, John H.
Concept link
Terray, Eugene A.
Concept link
Plueddemann, Albert J.
Concept link
Kukulka, Tobias
Concept link
Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4004As published
https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JPO4044.1DOI
10.1175/2008JPO4044.1Abstract
Observations of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dynamics in the ocean surface boundary layer are presented here and compared with results from previous observational, numerical, and analytic studies. As in previous studies, the dissipation rate of TKE is found to be higher in the wavy ocean surface boundary layer than it would be in a flow past a rigid boundary with similar stress and buoyancy forcing. Estimates of the terms in the turbulent kinetic energy equation indicate that, unlike in a flow past a rigid boundary, the dissipation rates cannot be balanced by local production terms, suggesting that the transport of TKE is important in the ocean surface boundary layer. A simple analytic model containing parameterizations of production, dissipation, and transport reproduces key features of the vertical profile of TKE, including enhancement near the surface. The effective turbulent diffusion coefficient for heat is larger than would be expected in a rigid-boundary boundary layer. This diffusion coefficient is predicted reasonably well by a model that contains the effects of shear production, buoyancy forcing, and transport of TKE (thought to be related to wave breaking). Neglect of buoyancy forcing or wave breaking in the parameterization results in poor predictions of turbulent diffusivity. Langmuir turbulence was detected concurrently with a fraction of the turbulence quantities reported here, but these times did not stand out as having significant differences from observations when Langmuir turbulence was not detected.
Description
Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 39 (2009): 1077–1096, doi:10.1175/2008JPO4044.1.
Suggested Citation
Journal of Physical Oceanography 39 (2009): 1077–1096Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Parsing the kinetic energy budget of the ocean surface mixed layer
Zippel, Seth F.; Farrar, J. Thomas; Zappa, Christopher J.; Plueddemann, Albert J. (American Geophysical Union, 2022-01-10)The total rate of work done on the ocean by the wind is of considerable interest for understanding global energy balances, as the energy from the wind drives ocean currents, grows surface waves, and forces vertical mixing. ... -
Observations of the transfer of energy and momentum to the oceanic surface boundary layer beneath breaking waves
Scully, Malcolm E.; Trowbridge, John H.; Fisher, Alexander W. (American Meteorological Society, 2016-06-02)Measurements just beneath the ocean surface demonstrate that the primary mechanism by which energy from breaking waves is transmitted into the water column is through the work done by the covariance of turbulent pressure ... -
The role of whitecapping in thickening the ocean surface boundary layer
Gerbi, Gregory P.; Kastner, Samuel E.; Brett, Genevieve (American Meteorological Society, 2015-08)The effects of wind-driven whitecapping on the evolution of the ocean surface boundary layer are examined using an idealized one-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes numerical model. Whitecapping is parameterized ...