Abstract
The impact of sea waves on sensible heat and momentum fluxes is described. The approach is based on the conservation of heat and momentum in the marine atmospheric surface layer. The experimental fact that the drag coefficient above the sea increases considerably with increasing wind speed, while the exchange coefficient for sensible heat (Stanton number) remains virtually independent of wind speed, is explained by a different balance of the turbulent and the wave-induced parts in the total fluxes of momentum and sensible heat.
Organised motions induced by waves support the wave-induced stress which dominates the surface momentum flux. These organised motions do not contribute to the vertical flux of heat. The heat flux above waves is determined, in part, by the influence of waves upon the turbulence diffusivity.
The turbulence diffusivity is altered by waves in an indirect way. The wave-induced stress dominates the surface flux and decays rapidly with height. Therefore the turbulent stress above waves is no longer constant with height. That changes the balance of the turbulent kinetic energy and of the dissipation rate and, hence the diffusivity.
The dependence of the exchange coefficient for heat on wind speed is usually parameterized in terms of a constant Stanton number. However, an increase of the exchange coefficient with wind speed is not ruled out by field measurements and could be parametrized in terms of a constant temperature roughness length. Because of the large scatter, field data do not allow us to establish the actual dependence. The exchange coefficient for sensible heat, calculated from the model, is virtually independent of wind speed in the range of 3–10 ms-1. For wind speeds above 10 ms-1 an increase of 10% is obtained, which is smaller than that following from the ‘constant roughness length’ parameterization.
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The investigation was in part supported by the Netherlands Geosciences Foundation (GOA) with financial aid from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).
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Makin, V.K., Mastenbroek, C. Impact of waves on air-sea exchange of sensible heat and momentum. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 79, 279–300 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119442
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119442