Wave-Breaking Turbulence in the Ocean Surface Layer

Thomson, Jim; Schwendeman, Michael S.; Zippel, Seth F.; Moghimi, Saeed; Gemmrich, Johannes; Rogers, W. Erick

Citeable URL: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/2z10ws04f

To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the American Meteorological Society and can be found at: https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/journals/journal-of-physical-oceanography/

The SWIFT wave, wind, and turbulence data are available online (at www.apl.uw.edu/swift) by serial number. The waverider spectra are available as station 166 from the Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography or the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) as station 46246.

Descriptions

Attribute Name	Values
Creator	Thomson, Jim Schwendeman, Michael S. Zippel, Seth F. Moghimi, Saeed Gemmrich, Johannes Rogers, W. Erick
Abstract	Observations of winds, waves, and turbulence at the ocean surface are compared with several analytic formulations and a numerical model for the input of turbulent kinetic energy by wave breaking and the subsequent dissipation. The observations are generally consistent with all of the formulations, although some differences are notable at winds greater than 15 m s⁻¹. The depth dependence of the turbulent dissipation rate beneath the waves is fit to a decay scale, which is sensitive to the choice of vertical reference frame. In the surface-following reference frame, the strongest turbulence is isolated within a shallow region of depths much less than one significant wave height. In a fixed reference frame, the strong turbulence penetrates to depths that are at least half of the significant wave height. This occurs because the turbulence of individual breakers persists longer than the dominant period of the waves and thus the strong surface turbulence is carried from crest to trough with the wave orbital motion.
Resource Type	Article
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-15-0130.1
Date Available	2016-07-15T14:35:20+00:00
Date Issued	2016-06
Citation	Thomson, J., Schwendeman, M. S., Zippel, S. F., Moghimi, S., Gemmrich, J., & Rogers, W. E. (2016). Wave breaking turbulence in the ocean surface layer. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 46(6), 1857-1870. doi:10.1175/JPO-D-15-0130.1
Journal Title	Journal of Physical Oceanography
Journal Volume	46
Journal Issue/Number	6
Keyword	Sea state Wave breaking Turbulence Circulation/ Dynamics Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena Waves, oceanic Wind waves Atmosphere-ocean interaction
Rights Statement	Copyright Not Evaluated
Funding Statement (additional comments about funding)	Funding for JT, MS, and SZ was provided by the National Science Foundation (OCE-1332719). Funding for ER was provided by the Office of Naval Research through an NRL Core Project (Program Element 0602435N)
Publisher	American Meteorological Society
Peer Reviewed	Yes
Language	English [eng]
Replaces	http://hdl.handle.net/1957/59503
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