Measurements of momentum and heat transfer across the air–sea interface

View/ Open
Date
2008-05Author
Gerbi, Gregory P.
Concept link
Trowbridge, John H.
Concept link
Edson, James B.
Concept link
Plueddemann, Albert J.
Concept link
Terray, Eugene A.
Concept link
Fredericks, Janet J.
Concept link
Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4037As published
https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JPO3739.1DOI
10.1175/2007JPO3739.1Keyword
Momentum; Heating; Air–sea interactionAbstract
This study makes direct measurements of turbulent fluxes in the mixed layer in order to close heat and momentum budgets across the air–sea interface and to assess the ability of rigid-boundary turbulence models to predict mean vertical gradients beneath the ocean’s wavy surface. Observations were made at 20 Hz at nominal depths of 2.2 and 1.7 m in 16 m of water. A new method is developed to estimate the fluxes and the length scales of dominant flux-carrying eddies from cospectra at frequencies below the wave band. The results are compared to independent estimates of those quantities, with good agreement between the two sets of estimates. The observed temperature gradients were smaller than predicted by standard rigid-boundary closure models, consistent with the suggestion that wave breaking and Langmuir circulation increase turbulent diffusivity in the upper ocean. Similarly, the Monin–Obukhov stability function ϕh was smaller in the authors’ measurements than the stability functions used in rigid-boundary applications of the Monin–Obukhov similarity theory. The dominant horizontal length scales of flux-carrying turbulent eddies were found to be consistent with observations in the bottom boundary layer of the atmosphere and from laboratory experiments in three ways: 1) in statically unstable conditions, the eddy sizes scaled linearly with distance to the boundary; 2) in statically stable conditions, length scales decreased with increasing downward buoyancy flux; and 3) downwind length scales were larger than crosswind length scales.
Description
Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2008. 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 38 (2008): 1054–1072, doi:10.1175/2007JPO3739.1.
Suggested Citation
Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 1054-1072Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Evidence of energy and momentum flux from swell to wind
Kahma, Kimmo; Donelan, Mark A.; Drennan, William M.; Terray, Eugene A. (American Meteorological Society, 2016-06-23)Measurements of pressure near the surface in conditions of wind sea and swell are reported. Swell, or waves that overrun the wind, produces an upward flux of energy and momentum from waves to the wind and corresponding ... -
Air-sea fluxes with a focus on heat and momentum
Cronin, Meghan F.; Gentemann, Chelle L.; Edson, James B.; Ueki, Iwao; Bourassa, Mark A.; Brown, Shannon; Clayson, Carol A.; Fairall, Christopher W.; Farrar, J. Thomas; Gille, Sarah T.; Gulev, Sergey; Josey, Simon A.; Kato, Seiji; Katsumata, Masaki; Kent, Elizabeth; Krug, Marjolaine; Minnett, Peter J.; Parfitt, Rhys; Pinker, Rachel T.; Stackhouse, Paul W., Jr.; Swart, Sebastiaan; Tomita, Hiroyuki; Vandemark, Douglas; Weller, Robert A.; Yoneyama, Kunio; Yu, Lisan; Zhang, Dongxiao (Frontiers Media, 2019-07-31)Turbulent and radiative exchanges of heat between the ocean and atmosphere (hereafter heat fluxes), ocean surface wind stress, and state variables used to estimate them, are Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) and Essential ... -
Cross-shelf circulation and momentum and heat balances over the inner continental shelf near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
Fewings, Melanie R. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2007-09)The water circulation and evolution of water temperature over the inner continental shelf are investigated using observations of water velocity, temperature, density, and bottom pressure; surface gravity waves; wind ...