What is it about?
In this paper, we present direct measurements of the two-dimensional velocity field in the turbulent airflow above wind waves. Improvements in measuring techniques have allowed us to detect the viscous sublayer in the airflow near the interface and make direct measurements of the airside viscous tangential stress. Furthermore, we were able to separate mean, turbulent, and wave-coherent motions and this decomposition yielded wave-coherent flow measurements as well as wave-phase averages of several flow field variables. We present the relationship of the varying surface viscous stress with the dominant wave phase. Also, we present the first measurements of airside wave-induced viscous stresses.
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Why is it important?
The exchanges of mass, momentum, energy, and heat between the atmosphere and the ocean are strongly contingent on small-scale interfacial dynamics, particularly in low to moderate wind forcing conditions. These air-sea fluxes impact large-scale weather patterns, sea-state, and climate and are key components of oceanic and atmospheric models. The accurate parametrizations of the microphysical processes at the air-sea interface lead to improving weather and climate forecasting.
Perspectives
In this study, to the best of our knowledge, we presented direct measurements of airside wave-induced viscous stresses for the first in the literature. Further, it was shown that surface viscous effects are substantial at low-moderate wind speeds and likely need to be accounted for in the early stages of the wind-wave generation process.
Kianoosh Yousefi
University of Delaware
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Measurements of Airside Shear- and Wave-Induced Viscous Stresses over Strongly Forced Wind Waves, January 2020, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-36371-0_6.
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