Surface stress in offshore flow and quasi-frictional decoupling

Download
Author
Mahrt, L.
Vickers, Dean
Sun, Jielun
Crawford, Timothy L.
Crescenti, Gennaro
Frederickson, Paul
Date
2001-09-27Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Aircraft data collected at approximately 15 m above the sea surface in the
coastal zone are analyzed to examine the spatial distribution of surface stress. Advection
of stronger turbulence from land dominates the near-surface turbulence for the first few
kilometers offshore. With offshore flow of warm air over cold water, strong stratification
leads to very small surface stress. Because the stability restricts the momentum transfer to
the waves, the aerodynamic surface roughness decreases to very small values, which in
turn decreases atmospheric mixing. The redevelopment of the boundary layer farther
downstream is examined. Computation of fluxes from observations for stable cases is
difficult due to a variety of errors including large random flux errors, possible instrumental
loss of small-scale flux, difference between the surface flux and that at the observational
level, and inadvertent capture of mesoscale motions in the computed turbulent
fluctuations. Although the errors appear to be substantial, the aircraft momentum fluxes
compare favorably with those from sonic anemometers on two buoys and a tower at the
end of a 570-m pier, even with near collapse of the turbulence.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
A detailed study of advection sea fog formation to reduce the operational impacts along the Northern Gulf of Mexico
King, Jason M. (Monterey California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2007-03);This study creates rules of thumb for forecasting advection sea fog development and dissipation along the Northern Gulf of Mexico for the months of December through March. Surface observations from Tyndall AFB, Destin-Fort ... -
Observation and prediction of flotsam
Gates, Dallas C.; Collins, Curtis A.; Margolina, Tetyana; Rago, Thomas A. (2021-04-01);Surface drift of eighty-nine undrogued RAFOS floats in the California Current System (CCS) has been studied to describe patterns of flotsam drift, its seasonal variability and predictability limitations. The floats were ... -
Investigation of surface motion in solids caused by reflection of an intense acoustic pulse at a pressure release surface
Dogusal, Mustafa (Monterey, California; Naval Postgraduate School, 1970-12);This work reports theoretical investigations of the surface motion in solids caused by reflection of an intense acoustic pulse at a pressure release surface done using the surface velocity reflection coefficient. A formula ...