ICON-waves: towards an atmosphere-waves coupled

<p>Wind-driven ocean gravity surface waves affect basic physical processes such as heat, momentum, and mass exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere. Wind wave energy generates additional turbulence, modifies ocean currents, and controls the state of the sea surface. As of now, DWD's operational weather forecast system ICON-NWP does not explicitly account for ocean surface waves. Wave effects, for example, the effect on sea surface roughness, are represented by parameterisations based on local wind speed. However, the physics of the ocean-atmosphere interaction is more complex, and therefore methods of wave-spectrum-based coupling of atmosphere and ocean are necessary and have the potential for improving both weather and wave forecasts. To this end, in the framework of the Innovation Programme for Applied Research and Developments (IAFE) funded by the DWD, a new coupled ICON-NWP-waves system is currently under development. This project aims at using ICON's dynamical core and the wave spectrum physics from the wave model WAM, and will combine both into the new ICON-waves model. A parameterisation of sea surface roughness based on the wave spectrum will provide a two-way coupling mechanism at the ocean-atmosphere interface. The concept of ICON-waves, the current status of development as well as some preliminary results will be presented.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>

Cyclonic Wave Simulations Based on WAVEWATCH-III Using a Sea Surface Drag Coefficient Derived from CFOSAT SWIM Data

It is well known that numerical models are powerful methods for wave simulation of typhoons, where the sea surface drag coefficient is sensitive to strong winds. With the development of remote sensing techniques, typhoon data (i.e., wind and waves) have been captured by optical and microwave satellites such as the Chinese-French Oceanography SATellite (CFOSAT). In particular, wind and wave spectra data can be simultaneously measured by the Surface Wave Investigation and Monitoring (SWIM) onboard CFOSAT. In this study, existing parameterizations for the drag coefficient are implemented for typhoon wave simulations using the WAVEWATCH-III (WW3) model. In particular, a parameterization of the drag coefficient derived from sea surface roughness is adopted by considering the terms for wave steepness and wave age from the measurements from SWIM products of CFOSAT from 20 typhoons during 2019–2020 at winds up to 30 m/s. The simulated significant wave height (Hs) from the WW3 model was validated against the observations from several moored buoys active during three typhoons, i.e., Typhoon Fung-wong (2014), Chan-hom (2015), and Lekima (2019). The analysis results indicated that the proposed parameterization of the drag coefficient significantly improved the accuracy of typhoon wave estimation (a 0.49 m root mean square error (RMSE) of Hs and a 0.35 scatter index (SI)), greater than the 0.55 RMSE of Hs and >0.4 SI using other existing parameterizations. In this sense, the adopted parameterization for the drag coefficient is recommended for typhoon wave simulations using the WW3 model, especially for sea states with Hs < 7 m. Moreover, the accuracy of simulated waves was not reduced with growing winds and sea states using the proposed parameterization. However, the applicability of the proposed parameterization in hurricanes necessitates further investigation at high winds (>30 m/s).

Reduced Sea-Surface Roughness Length at a Coastal Site

Sea-surface roughness length is a key parameter for characterizing marine atmospheric boundary layer. Although aerodynamic roughness lengths for homogeneous land and open water surfaces have been examined extensively, the extension of relevant knowledge to the highly inhomogeneous coastal area is problematic due to the complex mechanisms controlling coastal meteorology. This study presented a lidar-based observational analysis of sea-surface roughness length at a coastal site in Hong Kong, in which the wind data recorded from March 2012 to November 2015 were considered and analyzed. The results indicated the turning of wind near the land-sea boundary, leading to a dominative wind direction parallel to the coastline and an acceleration in wind. Moreover, the roughness lengths corresponding to two representative azimuthal sectors were compared, in which the roughness lengths for the onshore wind sector (i.e., 120°–240°) appear to be larger than the constant value (z0 = 0.2 mm) recommended in much existing literature, whereas the values for the alongshore wind sector (i.e., 60°–90°) are significantly smaller, i.e., about two orders of magnitude less than that of a typical sea surface. However, it is to be noted that the effect of atmospheric stability, which is of crucial importance in governing the marine atmospheric boundary layer, is not taken into account in this study.

Impact of Sea Spray and Sea Surface Roughness on the Upper Ocean Response to Super Typhoon Haitang (2005)

A coupled ocean-wave-sea spray model system is used to investigate the impacts of sea spray and sea surface roughness on the response of the upper ocean to the passage of the super typhoon Haitang. Sea spray mediated heat and momentum fluxes are derived from an improved version of Fairall’s heat fluxes formulation (Zhang et al., 2017) and Andreas’s sea spray-mediated momentum flux models. For winds ranging from low to extremely high speeds, a new parameterization scheme for the sea surface roughness is developed, in which the effects of wave state and sea spray are introduced. In this formulation, the drag coefficient has minimal values over the right quadrant of the typhoon track, along which the typhoon-generated waves are longer, smoother, and older, compared to other quadrants. Using traditional interfacial air-sea turbulent (sensible, latent, and momentum) fluxes, the sea surface cooling response to typhoon Haitang is overestimated by 1 °C, which can be compensated by the effects of sea spray and ocean waves on the right side of the storm. Inclusion of sea spray-mediated turbulent fluxes and sea surface roughness, modulated by ocean waves, gives enhanced cooling along the left edges of the cooling area by 0.2 °C, consistent with the upper ocean temperature observations.

A Novel Sea Surface Roughness Parameterization Based on Wave State and Sea Foam

A wave state related sea surface roughness parameterization scheme that takes into account the impact of sea foam is proposed in this study. Using eight observational datasets, the performances of two most widely used wave state related parameterizations are examined under various wave conditions. Based on the different performances of two wave state related parameterizations under different wave state, and by introducing the effect of sea foam, a new sea surface roughness parameterization suitable for low to extreme wind conditions is proposed. The behaviors of drag coefficient predicted by the proposed parameterization match the field and laboratory measurements well. It is shown that the drag coefficient increases with the increasing wind speed under low and moderate wind speed conditions, and then decreases with increasing wind speed, due to the effect of sea foam under high wind speed conditions. The maximum values of the drag coefficient are reached when the 10 m wind speeds are in the range of 30–35 m/s.

Prediction of Extreme Wind Speed for Offshore Wind Farms Considering Parametrization of Surface Roughness

Large-scale offshore wind farms (OWF) are under construction along the southeastern coast of China, an area with a high typhoon incidence. Measured data and typhoon simulation model are used to improve the reliability of extreme wind speed (EWS) forecasts for OWF affected by typhoons in this paper. Firstly, a 70-year historical typhoon record database is statistically analyzed to fit the typhoon parameters probability distribution functions, which is used to sample key parameters when employing Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). The sampled typhoon parameters are put into the Yan Meng (YM) wind field to generate massive virtual typhoon in the MCS. Secondly, when typhoon simulation carried out, the change in wind field roughness caused by the wind-wave coupling is studied. A simplified calculation method for realizing this phenomenon is applied by exchanging roughness length in the parametric wind field and wave model. Finally, the extreme value theory is adopted to analyze the simulated typhoon wind data, and results are verified using measured data and relevant standards codes. The EWS with 50-year recurrence of six representative OWF is predicted as application examples. The results show that the offshore EWS is generally stronger than onshore; the reason is sea surface roughness will not keep growing accordingly as the wind speed increases. The traditional prediction method does not consider this phenomenon, causing it to overestimate the sea surface roughness, and as a result, underestimate the EWS for OWF affected by typhoons. This paper’s methods make the prediction of EWS for OWF more precise, and results suggest the planer should choose stronger wind turbine in typhoon prone areas.

On the Wave State Dependence of the Sea Surface Roughness at Moderate Wind Speeds under Mixed Wave Conditions

Wind stress depends on the sea surface roughness, which can be significantly changed by surface wind waves. Based on observations from a fixed platform, we examined the dependences of the sea surface roughness length on dominant wave characteristic parameters (wave age, wave steepness) at moderate wind speeds and under mixed-wave conditions. No obvious trend was found in the wave steepness dependence of sea surface roughness, but a wave steepness threshold behavior was readily identified in the wave age dependence of sea surface roughness. The influence of dominant wind waves on the surface roughness was illustrated using a wind–wave coupling model. The wave steepness threshold behavior is assumed to be related to the onset of dominant wave breaking. The important role of the interaction between swell and wind wave was highlighted, as swell can absorb energy from locally generated wind wave, which subsequently reduces the wave steepness and the probability of dominant wave breaking.