An Observational Study to Quantify the Impact of Nearshore Processes on Air-Sea Momentum Transfer

该项目的总体目标是确定并系统地量化改变近岸海气动量交换的沿海过程和特征。这将通过分析PI在北卡罗来纳州达克的陆军野战研究设施（FRF）收集的现有数据集来实现。于2021年8月至2023年1月期间，安装于码头及海滩塔的五个高频三维风速计记录数据。将利用联邦共和国广泛的观测网络来确定近岸环境的特征，并量化其对阻力系数的影响。为了继续支持STEM中代表性不足的学生，该项目将资助德克萨斯州A M大学的残疾本科生。在STEM学科之外招募的学生将有机会参与高影响力的学习体验，否则可能无法获得。那些从艺术和科学学院将被鼓励产生基于他们的研究本科论文。参与者将在德克萨斯州A M学生研究周上展示他们的研究结果。一名研究生也将通过这项研究得到支持。PI将与NSF资助的Louis Stokes少数民族参与联盟（LSAMP）合作，帮助从德克萨斯州A M或另一所LSAMP大学的STEM代表性不足的群体中招募学生。PI和研究生将与德克萨斯A M大学的广播节目《海洋》合作，并在当地的国家公共广播电台附属机构KAMU上播出，以制作这项研究产生的八个广播片段。这些节目将分两个系列播出，每个系列四集，主题是海气相互作用和沿海环境物理学，这项工作的动机是需要改进近海使用的海气动量通量参数化。这仍然是一个重大的挑战，因为参数化没有充分考虑表面电流及其反馈，波浪变浅或破碎，陆上地形的影响，或改变大气稳定性的天气系统的影响。这进一步限制了预测风对海洋或任何风驱动的海岸过程的真实影响的能力。这项研究的结果将是深入了解沿海过程对动量转移和表层通量廓线的影响，从而导致更准确的参数化。预计这些结果将导致对近岸波浪生长和破碎的更有力的理解，这对白顶的形成、云的形成、地下湍流、声学、波浪上升和海岸侵蚀、海冰破裂、空气中的热量和气体交换该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The overarching goal of this project is to identify and systematically quantify coastal processes and features that alter nearshore air-sea momentum exchange. This will be achieved through analysis of an existing data set collected by the PI at the Army Field Research Facility (FRF) in Duck, NC. Data were recorded between August 2021 and January 2023 by five high frequency 3-D anemometers mounted on the pierhead and beach tower. The extensive observational network at FRF will be leveraged to characterize the nearshore environment and quantify its impact on the drag coefficient. In continued support of underrepresented students in STEM, this project will fund undergraduate students with disabilities from Texas A&M University. Students recruited outside STEM disciplines will have the opportunity to participate in high impact learning experiences that may otherwise be unavailable. Those from within the College of Arts and Sciences will be encouraged to produce an undergraduate thesis based on their research. Participants will present their results at Texas A&M Student Research Week. A graduate student will also be supported through this research. The PI will work with the NSF funded Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program (LSAMP) to help recruit a student from a group underrepresented in STEM from Texas A&M or another LSAMP university. The PI and graduate student will work with On the Ocean, a radio show from Texas A&M University and broadcast on the local National Public Radio Affiliate, KAMU, to produce eight radio segments resulting from this research. The segments will be broadcast in two series of four episodes each on the subjects of air-sea interaction and the physics of the coastal environment.This work is motivated by the need to improve parameterization of the air-to-sea momentum flux for nearshore use. This remains a significant challenge because parameterizations don’t adequately account for the impacts of surface currents and their feedback, wave shoaling or breaking, the effects of onshore topography, or weather systems that alter atmospheric stability. This further limits the ability to predict the true impact of wind forcing on the ocean or any wind-driven coastal process. The result of this research will be an in-depth understanding of the influence of coastal processes on momentum transfer and the surface layer flux profile, thereby leading to more accurate parameterization. The results are expected to lead to a more robust understanding of nearshore wave growth and breaking, which are important for whitecap creation, cloud formation, subsurface turbulence, acoustics, wave run-up and coastal erosion, sea ice breakup, and heat and gas exchange at the air-sea interface.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.