scholarly journals An investigation of wave-induced momentum flux through phase averaging of open ocean wind and wave fields

Author(s):  
Suzanne W. Wetzel
2018 ◽  
Vol 839 ◽  
pp. 408-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Thomas ◽  
Oliver Bühler ◽  
K. Shafer Smith

Theoretical and numerical computations of the wave-induced mean flow in rotating shallow water with uniform potential vorticity are presented, with an eye towards applications in small-scale oceanography where potential-vorticity anomalies are often weak compared to the waves. The asymptotic computations are based on small-amplitude expansions and time averaging over the fast wave scale to define the mean flow. Importantly, we do not assume that the mean flow is balanced, i.e. we compute the full mean-flow response at leading order. Particular attention is paid to the concept of modified diagnostic relations, which link the leading-order Lagrangian-mean velocity field to certain wave properties known from the linear solution. Both steady and unsteady wave fields are considered, with specific examples that include propagating wavepackets and monochromatic standing waves. Very good agreement between the theoretical predictions and direct numerical simulations of the nonlinear system is demonstrated. In particular, we extend previous studies by considering the impact of unsteady wave fields on the mean flow, and by considering the total kinetic energy of the mean flow as a function of the rotation rate. Notably, monochromatic standing waves provide an explicit counterexample to the often observed tendency of the mean flow to decrease monotonically with the background rotation rate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 1369-1379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joey J. Voermans ◽  
Henrique Rapizo ◽  
Hongyu Ma ◽  
Fangli Qiao ◽  
Alexander V. Babanin

AbstractObservations of wind stress during extreme winds are required to improve predictability of tropical cyclone track and intensity. A common method to approximate the wind stress is by measuring the turbulent momentum flux directly. However, during high wind speeds, wave heights are typically of the same order of magnitude as instrument heights, and thus, turbulent momentum flux observations alone are insufficient to estimate wind stresses in tropical cyclones, as wave-induced stresses contribute to the wind stress at the height of measurements. In this study, wind stress observations during the near passage of Tropical Cyclone Olwyn are presented through measurements of the mean wind speed and turbulent momentum flux at 8.8 and 14.8 m above the ocean surface. The high sampling frequency of the water surface displacement (up to 2.5 Hz) allowed for estimations of the wave-induced stresses by parameterizing the wave input source function. During high wind speeds, our results show that the discrepancy between the wind stress and the turbulent stress can be attributed to the wave-induced stress. It is observed that for > 1 m s−1, the wave-induced stress contributes to 63% and 47% of the wind stress at 8.8 and 14.8 m above the ocean surface, respectively. Thus, measurements of wind stresses based on turbulent stresses alone underestimate wind stresses during high wind speed conditions. We show that this discrepancy can be solved for through a simple predictive model of the wave-induced stress using only observations of the turbulent stress and significant wave height.


2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 2156-2172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Grare ◽  
Luc Lenain ◽  
W. Kendall Melville

Abstract An analysis of coherent measurements of winds and waves from data collected during the Office of Naval Research (ONR) High-Resolution air–sea interaction (HiRes) program, from the Floating Instrument Platform (R/P FLIP), off the coast of northern California in June 2010 is presented. A suite of wind and wave measuring systems was deployed to resolve the modulation of the marine atmospheric boundary layer by waves. Spectral analysis of the data provided the wave-induced components of the wind velocity for various wind–wave conditions. The power spectral density, the amplitude, and the phase (relative to the waves) of these wave-induced components are computed and bin averaged over spectral wave age c/U(z) or c/u*, where c is the linear phase speed of the waves, U(z) is the mean wind speed measured at the height z of the anemometer, and u* is the friction velocity in the air. Results are qualitatively consistent with the critical layer theory of Miles. Across the critical height zc, defined such that U(zc) = c, the wave-induced vertical and horizontal velocities change significantly in both amplitude and phase. The measured wave-induced momentum flux shows that, for growing waves, less than 10% of the momentum flux at z ≈ 10 m is supported by waves longer than approximately 15 m. For older sea states, these waves are able to generate upward wave-induced momentum flux opposed to the overall downward momentum flux. The measured amplitude of this upward wave-induced momentum flux was up to 20% of the value of the total wind stress when Cp/u* > 60, where Cp is the phase speed at the peak of the wave spectrum.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 15543-15570 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Prytherch ◽  
M. J. Yelland ◽  
I. M. Brooks ◽  
D. J. Tupman ◽  
R. W. Pascal ◽  
...  

Abstract. Direct measurements of the turbulent air–sea fluxes of momentum, heat, moisture and gases. are often made using sensors mounted on ships. Ship-based turbulent wind measurements are corrected for platform motion using well established techniques, but biases at scales associated with wave and platform motion are often still apparent in the flux measurements. It has been uncertain whether this signal is due to time-varying distortion of the air flow over the platform, or to wind–wave interactions impacting the turbulence. Methods for removing such motion-scale biases from scalar measurements have previously been published but their application to momentum flux measurements remains controversial. Here we show that the measured motion-scale bias has a dependence on the horizontal ship velocity, and that a correction for it reduces the dependence of the measured momentum flux on the orientation of the ship to the wind. We conclude that the bias is due to experimental error, and that time-varying motion-dependent flow distortion is the likely source.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-253
Author(s):  
Mikhail Novikov ◽  
Vadim Lisitsa ◽  
Tatiana Khachkova

In this paper we research the response of carbonates dissolution when interacting with carbon dioxide in the seismic wave fields in a fractured-porous reservoir. We numerically estimate the change of limestone physical properties due to CO2 sequestration based on the analysis of samples CT-scans. Obtained estimations is then used to model a poroelastic material, which we use as fracture-filling material in statistically generated fractured porous fluid-saturated media models. A numerical modeling of wave propagation is performed to estimate a velocity dispersion and attenuation caused by a wave-induced fluid flow.


Author(s):  
William Alexander

Abstract Presented here is a low specific mass, free-floating, open ocean, wind energy concept with nominal power capacity to 40 MW, on-board liquid fuels generation, and with operational and survival wave heights to 12 and 40 meters respectively. The estimated specific structural mass of 42 kG/kWp is about 1/3 of the specific mass of much smaller land-based turbines, and less than 6% of the specific structural mass of existing off-shore floating wind turbines. The turbine platform may be operated un-tethered in the open ocean using about 8% of the generated power, on average, for active station keeping. The generated energy may be stored on board via hydrogen electrolysis and liquification for periodic tanker unloading. Reduction of moment loads in the blades and nacelle support structure as well as the unique deep-water foundation result in the low specific mass and high stability.


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