Brumer, SE, Zappa, CJ, Brooks, IM orcid.org/0000-0002-5051-1322 et al. (5 more authors) (2017) Whitecap coverage dependence on wind and wave statistics as observed during SO GasEx and HiWinGS. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 47 (9). pp. 2211-2235. ISSN 0022-3670
Abstract
Concurrent wavefield and turbulent flux measurements acquired during the Southern Ocean (SO) Gas Exchange (GasEx) and the High Wind Speed Gas Exchange Study (HiWinGS) projects permit evaluation of the dependence of the whitecap coverage W on wind speed, wave age, wave steepness, mean square slope, and wind-wave and breaking Reynolds numbers. The W was determined from over 600 high-frequency visible imagery recordings of 20 min each. Wave statistics were computed from in situ and remotely sensed data as well as from a WAVEWATCH III hindcast. The first shipborne estimates of W under sustained 10-m neutral wind speeds U10N of 25 m s−1 were obtained during HiWinGS. These measurements suggest that W levels off at high wind speed, not exceeding 10% when averaged over 20 min. Combining wind speed and wave height in the form of the wind-wave Reynolds number resulted in closely agreeing models for both datasets, individually and combined. These are also in good agreement with two previous studies. When expressing W in terms of wavefield statistics only or wave age, larger scatter is observed and/or there is little agreement between SO GasEx, HiWinGS, and previously published data. The wind speed–only parameterizations deduced from the SO GasEx and HiWinGS datasets agree closely and capture more of the observed W variability than Reynolds number parameterizations. However, these wind speed–only models do not agree as well with previous studies than the wind-wave Reynolds numbers.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 American Meteorological Society. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Ocean; Atmosphere-ocean interaction; Wave breaking; Waves, oceanic; Parameterization |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC NE/J020893/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jul 2017 10:43 |
Last Modified: | 01 Mar 2018 01:39 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Meteorological Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0005.1 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:118869 |