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

该项目的首要目标是查明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。2021年8月至2023年1月期间，安装在桥头和海滩塔楼上的五个高频三维风速仪记录了数据。FRF的广泛观测网络将被用来描述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农工大学的残疾本科生。在STEM学科之外招收的学生将有机会参与原本可能无法获得的高影响力的学习体验。来自文理学院的学生将被鼓励在他们的研究基础上撰写一篇本科论文。参与者将在德克萨斯农工大学学生研究周上展示他们的研究成果。一名研究生也将通过这项研究得到支持。PI将与美国国家科学基金会资助的路易斯·斯托克斯少数族裔参与联盟项目(LSAMP)合作，帮助从STEM中代表性不足的群体中招收一名来自德克萨斯州农工大学或另一所LSAMP大学的学生。这位少年派和研究生将与德克萨斯农工大学的广播节目On the Ocean合作，并在当地的国家公共广播电台KAMU播出，根据这项研究制作八个广播片段。这些片断将分成两个系列播出，每集四集，主题是海气相互作用和沿海环境物理。这项工作的动机是需要改进用于近岸使用的海气动量通量的参数化。这仍然是一个巨大的挑战，因为参数化没有充分考虑到表面洋流及其反馈、波浪浅化或破裂、陆上地形的影响，或者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由风驱动的沿海过程的真正影响的能力。这项研究的结果将是深入了解沿海过程对动量输送和近地层通量廓线的影响，从而导致更准确的参数化。这一结果有望使人们对近岸波浪的增长和破裂有更深入的了解，这对白浪的形成、云的形成、地下湍流、声学、波浪抬高和海岸侵蚀、海冰破裂以及海-气界面的热量和气体交换都很重要。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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。

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.