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

量化近岸过程对海气动量传递影响的观测研究

• 批准号: 2319548
• 负责人: Henry Potter
• 金额: $ 30.2万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2319548&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Observational; Study; Quantify; Impact; Nearshore

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.

该项目的总体目标是识别和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PI在北卡罗来纳州达克陆军野外研究设施（FRF）收集的现有数据集的分析来实现。在2021年8月至2023年1月期间，安装在码头和海滩塔上的五个高频三维风速仪记录了数据。FRF广泛的观测网络将被用来描述近岸环境，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农工大学的残疾本科生。在STEM学科之外招募的学生将有机会参加高影响力的学习经历，否则这些经历可能无法获得。我们鼓励文理学院的学生根据自己的研究成果撰写本科论文。参与者将在德州农工大学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将与美国国家科学基金会资助的路易斯·斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟项目（LSAMP）合作，帮助从德克萨斯州农工大学或其他LSAMP大学的STEM中代表性不足的群体中招募一名学生。这名PI和研究生将与德克萨斯农工大学的广播节目《海洋上》合作，该节目将在当地的国家公共广播电台附属机构KAMU播出，根据这项研究制作8个广播片段。这些片段将分两组播出，每组四集，主题分别是海气相互作用和海岸环境的物理学。这项工作的动机是需要改进近岸使用的空海动量通量的参数化。这仍然是一个重大的挑战，因为参数化不能充分考虑表面流及其反馈、波浪浅滩或破碎、岸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沿海过程的真正影响的能力。本研究的结果将是深入了解沿海过程对动量传递和表层通量剖面的影响，从而导致更准确的参数化。研究结果有望使我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、波浪的上升和海岸侵蚀、海冰的破裂以及海气界面的热量和气体交换都很重要。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。