The role of wave and wave breaking directionality in modulating the wave-induced drift at the ocean surface

表面波调制了大气和海洋之间的物理耦合。更好地理解这些小规模过程的物理过程，对于改进用于连接海洋和大气的天气和气候模型的近似(或参数化)至关重要，特别是在地球气候变化时。该方案研究了面波方向和波浪破碎对波浪引起的传输的影响。这项研究的应用将是全球性的，并有望改善对海洋和大气之间相互作用的理解和建模。该项目将利用理论、数值、实验室和观测技术，促进对海洋表面波和海浪破裂的几何、运动学、动力学和统计及其在海-气相互作用中的作用的理解。高分辨率的非破碎波和破碎波统计的现场观测将被用来计算波浪引起的漂移，并提供作为环境变量函数的这种传输的参数化。分析将量化与忽略或未正确解决定向波浪影响相关的错误，并将考虑波浪和波浪破碎对上层海洋质量传输的定向影响。该奖项反映了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。

Surface waves modulate the physical coupling between the atmosphere and ocean. A better understanding of the physics of these small-scale processes is fundamental for improved approximations (or parametrizations) to be used in models of weather and climate that link ocean and atmosphere, particularly as Earth’s climate changes. This proposal examines the effects that surface-wave direction and wave breaking have on the transport caused by waves. The applications of this research will be global and are expected to lead to improvements in the understanding and modeling of the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere.This project will advance understanding of the geometry, kinematics, dynamics and statistics of ocean surface waves and wave breaking and their role in air-sea interaction using theoretical, numerical, laboratory and observational techniques. High-resolution field observations of non-breaking and breaking wave statistics will be used to compute the wave-induced drift, and to provide parametrizations of this transport as a function of the environmental variables. Analyses will quantify the errors associated with ignoring, or not properly resolving, directional wave effects, and will consider the directional effects of waves and wave breaking on mass transport in the upper 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.