Air/Sea Energy Fluxes Mediated by Waves and Pressure Work

这项研究将研究大气和海洋之间的能量交换以及海浪在其中所起的作用。对海面空气和水面的平均、波浪驱动和湍流运动的史无前例的测量将由一个带有高分辨率速度和压力传感器垂直阵列的固定塔进行，并辅之以波浪测量、高分辨率海面图像和波浪浮标阵列。部署地点将在北卡罗来纳州帕姆利科湾，这是一个浅水取水有限的盆地，受到保护，不受海浪的影响，潮汐较弱，将作为这项研究的天然实验室。在2021年和2022年秋季的两次为期三个月的部署中，将收集到全面的数据集，届时强风会产生能量旺盛的年轻海浪，这是本研究的重点。收集的数据将用于开发海-气相互作用参数，用于耦合大气、波浪和海洋的模型。这些参数用于广泛的研究、工程和规划应用的模型中，包括物理海洋学、气象学、气候学、海岸和河口工程和科学、极地研究等。这项研究收集的数据将用于世界卫生组织/麻省理工学院联合计划教授的一个新的海-气相互作用课程中的学生数据分析项目。PI还将参与Skype a Science计划，该计划将提供与世界各地的初中生和高中生就与科学有关的基本主题进行交流的机会。一名研究生将接受海洋学和边界层气象学的跨学科培训，该项目将支持一名早期职业科学家领导该项目，并获得与两名经验丰富的科学家合作的宝贵经验。海洋和大气之间的动能转移在天气系统和全球气候中占有重要地位，以及控制热量和气体的交换，以及驱动海流和海浪。这些海-气传输发生在海洋和大气边界层中，由于表面重力波的存在，这些边界层与刚性边界层有很大的不同。虽然在理解这些受波浪影响的边界层方面已经取得了进展，但管理由波浪介导的能量和动量转移的具体过程还没有被很好地理解。研究表明，大气中存在湍流耗散赤字，这被认为是通过压力功输入到表面波的能量来平衡的。同样，由于海浪破裂，海洋中也存在湍流耗散盈余，最近的研究表明，这种盈余是能量通量汇聚的结果，也是由压力功驱动的。然而，我们缺乏对这些通量如何发生在界面上的详细机制的了解，包括在破碎波下大气和海洋响应耦合的程度。该项目将在海洋和上覆大气中进行同步测量，以：1)测试大气中的TKE耗散赤字平衡海洋中的耗散盈余的假设；2)确定驱动这些能量从大气转移到波浪和从波浪转移到海洋的机制，以及3)测试海洋中TKE耗散的大小和垂直结构的新模型。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This study will investigate the exchange of energy between the atmosphere and the ocean and the role that ocean waves play in this. Unprecedented measurements of the mean, wave-driven and turbulent motions on both the air and water side of the sea surface will be made from a fixed tower with a vertical array of high-resolution velocity and pressure sensors, and complemented by wave measurements, high-resolution sea-surface imagery, and an array of wave buoys. The deployments will be in Pamlico Sound, NC, a shallow fetch-limited basin that is protected from oceanic swell and has weak tides, which will serve as a natural laboratory for this research. A comprehensive data set will be collected during two three-month long deployments in the fall of 2021 and 2022, when strong winds produce energetic young waves that are the focus of this study. The data collected will be used for the development of air-sea interaction parameterizations for use in models that couple the atmosphere, waves, and the ocean. These parameterizations are used in models that span a large range of research, engineering, and planning applications including physical oceanography, meteorology, climatology, coastal and estuarine engineering and sciences, polar research, and others. Data collected in this study will be used for student data analysis projects in a new air-sea interactions class taught in the WHOI/MIT joint program. The PIs will also participate in the Skype a Scientist program, which will provide opportunities to communicate with middle and high school students from around the world about basic topics related to science. A graduate student will receive interdisciplinary training in oceanography and boundary layer meteorology and this project will support an early career scientist who will lead the project and gain valuable experience working with two experienced scientists.The transfer of kinetic energy between the ocean and atmosphere figures prominently in weather systems and global climate, as well as controlling the exchanges of heat and gases, and driving currents and waves. These air-sea transfers take place in the oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers, which are significantly different from rigid boundary layers due to the presence of surface gravity waves. Although progress has been made in understanding these wave-affected boundary layers, the specific processes governing wave-mediated transfers of energy and momentum are not well understood. Studies have suggested that there is a deficit of turbulent dissipation in the atmosphere, which is assumed to be balanced by energy input to the surface waves by pressure work. Similarly, there is a turbulent dissipation surplus in the ocean due to wave breaking, and recent research suggests this surplus is the result of a convergence in energy flux also driven by pressure work. However, we lack a detailed mechanistic understanding of how these fluxes occur across the interface, including the extent to which the atmosphere and oceanic response is coupled under breaking waves. This project will make contemporaneous measurements in both the ocean and overlying atmosphere to: 1) test the hypothesis that the TKE dissipation deficit in the atmosphere balances the dissipation surplus in the ocean; 2) identify the mechanisms that drive these energy transfers from the atmosphere into the waves and from the waves into the ocean, and, 3) test a new model for the magnitude and vertical structure of TKE dissipation in the ocean.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.