The Role of Whitecapping in Thickening the Ocean Surface Boundary Layer
Name
Gerbi-2015-The Role of Whitecap.pdf
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1.82 MB
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Author(s)
Gerbi, Gregory P.
Kastner, Samuel E.
Brett, Genevieve Elizabeth
Date Issued
August 2015
Journal
Journal of Physical Oceanography
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Gerbi, Gregory P., Samuel E. Kastner, and Genevieve Brett. “The Role of Whitecapping in Thickening the Ocean Surface Boundary Layer.” Journal of Physical Oceanography 45, no. 8 (August 2015): 2006–2024. © 2015 American Meteorological Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The effects of wind-driven whitecapping on the evolution of the ocean surface boundary layer are examined using an idealized one-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes numerical model. Whitecapping is parameterized as a flux of turbulent kinetic energy through the sea surface and through an adjustment of the turbulent length scale. Simulations begin with a two-layer configuration and use a wind that ramps to a steady stress. This study finds that the boundary layer begins to thicken sooner in simulations with whitecapping than without because whitecapping introduces energy to the base of the boundary layer sooner than shear production does. Even in the presence of whitecapping, shear production becomes important for several hours, but then inertial oscillations cause shear production and whitecapping to alternate as the dominant energy sources for mixing. Details of these results are sensitive to initial and forcing conditions, particularly to the turbulent length scale imposed by breaking waves and the transfer velocity of energy from waves to turbulence. After 1–2 days of steady wind, the boundary layer in whitecapping simulations has thickened more than the boundary layer in simulations without whitecapping by about 10%–50%, depending on the forcing and initial conditions.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-14-0234.1
