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| Titel |
Breaking waves, turbulence and bubbles |
| VerfasserIn |
Johannes Gemmrich, Svein Vagle, Jim Thomson |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2014
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 16 (2014) |
| Datensatznummer |
250090383
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2014-4617.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The air-sea fluxes of heat, momentum, and gases are to a large extent affected by wave-induced turbulence in the near-surface ocean layer, and are generally increased over the fluxes in a law-of-the-wall type boundary layer. However, air-bubbles generated during the wave breaking process may affect the density stratification and in turn reduce turbulence intensity in the near-surface layer.
The turbulence field beneath surface waves is rather complex and provides great challenges for detailed observations. We obtained high resolution near-surface velocity profiles, bubble cloud measurements and video recordings of the breaking activity in a coastal strait. Conditions ranged from moderate to strong wind forcing with wind speed ranging from 5 m/s to 20 m/s.
Estimates of the dissipation rates of turbulence kinetic energy are calculated from the in-situ velocity measurements. We find dissipation rates, fluctuating by more than two orders of magnitude, are closely linked to the air-fraction associated with micro-bubbles. Combining these turbulence estimates and the bubble cloud characteristics we infer differences in the strength of wave breaking and its effect on wave-induced mixing and air-sea exchange processes. |
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