Fabrice Veron

The velocity field under breaking waves: coherent structures and turbulence

Digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) measurements of the velocity eld under breaking waves in the laboratory are presented. The region of turbulent fluid directly generated by breaking is too large to be imaged in one video frame and so an ensemble-averaged representation of the flow is built up from a mosaic of image frames. It is found that breaking generates at least one coherent vortex that slowly propagates downstream at a speed consistent with the velocity induced by its image in the free surface. Both the kinetic energy of the flow and the vorticity decay approximately as t 1 . The Reynolds stress of the turbulence also decays as t 1 and is, within the accuracy of the measurements, everywhere negative, consistent with downward transport of streamwise momentum. Estimates of the mometum flux from waves to currents based on the measurements of the Reynolds stress are consistent with earlier estimates. The implications of the measurements for breaking in the eld are discussed. Based on geometrical optics and wave action conservation, we suggest that the presence of the breaking-induced vortex provides an explanation for the suppression of short waves by breaking. Finally, in Appendices, estimates of the majority of the terms in the turbulent kinetic energy budget are presented at an early stage in the evolution of the turbulence, and comparisons with independent acoustical measurements of breaking are presented.

Laboratory measurements of the generation and evolution of Langmuir circulations

We present laboratory measurements of the generation and evolution of Langmuir circulations as an instability of a wind-driven surface shear layer. The shear layer, which is generated by an accelerating wind starting from rest above a quiescent water surface, both accelerates and deepens monotonically until the inception of the Langmuir circulations. The Langmuir circulations closely follow the initial growth of the wind waves and rapidly lead to vertical mixing of the horizontal momentum and a deceleration of the surface layer. Prior to the appearance of the Langmuir circulations, the depth of the shear layer scales with (t) 1=2 ( is the kinematic viscosity and t is time), in accordance with molecular rather than turbulent transport. For nal wind speeds in the range 3 to 5 m s 1 , the wavenumber of the most unstable Langmuir circulation normalized by the surface wavenumber, k lc ,i s 0 :68 0:24, at a reciprocal Langmuir number, La 1 ,o f 5221. The observations are compared with available theoretical results, although none are directly applicable to the conditions of the experiments. The implications of this work for the generation and evolution of Langmuir circulations in the ocean and other natural water bodies are discussed.

Pulse-to-Pulse Coherent Doppler Measurements of Waves and Turbulence

Abstract This paper presents laboratory and field testing of a pulse-to-pulse coherent acoustic Doppler profiler for the measurement of turbulence in the ocean. In the laboratory, velocities and wavenumber spectra collected from Doppler and digital particle image velocimeter measurements compare very well. Turbulent velocities are obtained by identifying and filtering out deep water gravity waves in Fourier space and inverting the result. Spectra of the velocity profiles then reveal the presence of an inertial subrange in the turbulence generated by unsteady breaking waves. In the field, comparison of the profiler velocity records with a single-point current measurement is satisfactory. Again wavenumber spectra are directly measured and exhibit an approximate −5/3 slope. It is concluded that the instrument is capable of directly resolving the wavenumber spectral levels in the inertial subrange under breaking waves, and therefore is capable of measuring dissipation and other turbulence parameters in the up...

The reversible effect of flow on the morphology of ceratocorys horrida (PERIDINIALES, DINOPHYTA)*

Most cells experience an active and variable fluid environment, in which hydrodynamic forces can affect aspects of cell physiology including gene regulation, growth, nutrient uptake, and viability. The present study describes a rapid yet reversible change in cell morphology of the marine dinoflagellate Ceratocorys horrida Stein, due to fluid motion. Cells cultured under still conditions possess six large spines, each almost one cell diameter in length. When gently agitated on an orbital shaker under conditions simulating fluid motion at the sea surface due to light wind or surface chop, as determined from digital particle imaging velocimetry, population growth was inhibited and a short‐spined cell type appeared that possessed a 49% mean decrease in spine length and a 53% mean decrease in cell volume. The reduction in cell size appeared to result primarily from a 39% mean decrease in vacuole size. Short‐spined cells were first observed after 1 h of agitation at 20°C; after 8 to 12 d of continuous agitation, long‐spined cells were no longer present. The morphological change was completely reversible; in previously agitated populations devoid of long‐spined cells, cells began to revert to the long‐spined morphology within 1 d after return to still conditions. During morphological reversal, spines on isolated cells grew up to 10 μm·d−1. In 30 d the population morphology had returned to original proportions, even though the overall population growth was zero during this time. The reversal did not occur as a result of cell division, because single‐cell studies confirmed that the change occurred in the absence of cell division and much faster than the 16‐d doubling time. The threshold level of agitation causing morphology change in C. horrida was too low to inhibit population growth in the shear‐sensitive dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum. At the highest level of agitation tested, there was negative population growth in C. horrida cultures, indicating that fluid motion caused cell mortality. Small, spineless cells constituted a small percentage of the population under all conditions. Although their abundance did not change, single‐cell studies and morphological characteristics suggest that the spineless cells can rapidly transform to and from other cell types. The sinking rate of individual long‐spined cells in still conditions was significantly less than that of short‐spined cells, even though the former are larger and have a higher cell density. These measurements demonstrate that the long spines of C. horrida reduce cell sinking. Shorter spines and reduced swimming would allow cells to sink away from turbulent surface conditions more rapidly. The ecological importance of the morphological change may be to avoid conditions that inhibit population growth and potentially cause cell damage.

Measurements of Ocean Surface Turbulence and Wave-Turbulence Interactions

Abstract : The uppermost layers of the ocean, along with the lower atmospheric boundary layer, play a crucial role in the air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat, and mass, thereby providing important boundary conditions for both the atmosphere and the oceans that control the evolution of weather and climate. In particular, the fluxes of heat and gas rely on exchange processes through the molecular layers, which are usually located within the viscous layer, which is in turn modulated by the waves and the turbulence at the free surface. The understanding of the multiple interactions between molecular layers, viscous layers, waves, and turbulence is therefore paramount to an adequate parameterization of these fluxes. In this paper, the authors present evidence of a clear coupling between the surface waves and the surface turbulence. When averaged over time scales longer than the wave period, this coupling yields a spatial relationship between surface temperature, divergence, and vorticity fields that is consistent with spatial patterns of Langmuir turbulence. The resulting surface velocity field is hyperbolic, suggesting that significant stretching takes place in the surface layers. On time scales for which the surface wave field is resolved, they show that the surface turbulence is modulated by the waves in a manner qualitatively consistent with rapid distortion theory.

An Integrated System for the Study of Wind-Wave Source Terms in Finite-Depth Water

Abstract A field experiment to study the spectral balance of the source terms for wind-generated waves in finite water depth was carried out in Lake George, Australia. The measurements were made from a shore-connected platform at varying water depths from 1.2 m down to 20 cm. Wind conditions and the geometry of the lake were such that fetch-limited conditions with fetches ranging from approximately 10 km down to 1 km prevailed. The resulting waves were intermediate-depth wind waves with inverse wave ages in the range 1 < U10/Cp < 8. The atmospheric input, bottom friction, and whitecap dissipation were measured directly and synchronously by an integrated measurement system, described in the paper. In addition, simultaneous data defining the directional wave spectrum, atmospheric boundary layer profile, and atmospheric turbulence were available. The contribution to the spectral evolution due to nonlinear interactions of various orders is investigated by a combination of bispectral analysis of the data and n...

Infrared Techniques for Measuring Ocean Surface Processes

Ocean surface processes, and air–sea interaction in general, have recently received increased attention because it is now accepted that small-scale surface phenomena can play a crucial role in the air–sea fluxes of heat, mass, and momentum, with important implications for weather and climate studies. Yet, despite good progress in recent years, the air–sea interface and the adjacent atmospheric and marine boundary layers have proven to be difficult to measure in all but the most benign conditions. This has led to the need for novel measurement techniques to quantify processes of air–sea interaction. Here the authors present infrared techniques aimed at simultaneously studying multiple aspects of the air–sea interface and air–sea fluxes. The instrumentation was tested and deployed during several field experiments from Research Platform (R/P) FLIP and Scripps pier. It is shown that these techniques permit the detailed study of the ocean surface temperature and velocity fields. In particular, it is shown that cross-correlation techniques typically used in particle image velocimetry can be used to infer the ocean surface velocity field from passive infrared temperature images. In addition, when conditions make cross-correlation techniques less effective, an active infrared marking and tracking technique [which will be called thermal marker velocimetry (TMV)] can be successfully used to measure the surface velocity and its spatial and temporal derivatives. The thermal marker velocimetry technique also provides estimates of the heat transfer velocity and surface renewal frequencies. Finally, infrared altimetry is used to complement the temperature and kinematic data obtained from passive imagery and active marking. The data obtained during the testing and deployment of this instrumentation provide a novel description of the kinematics of the surface of the ocean.

The mean and turbulent flow structure of a weak hydraulic jump

The turbulent air–water interface and flow structure of a weak, turbulent hydraulic jump are analyzed in detail using particle image velocimetry measurements. The study is motivated by the need to understand the detailed dynamics of turbulence generated in steady spilling breakers and the relative importance of the reverse-flow and breaker shear layer regions with attention to their topology, mean flow, and turbulence structure. The intermittency factor derived from turbulent fluctuations of the air–water interface in the breaker region is found to fit theoretical distributions of turbulent interfaces well. A conditional averaging technique is used to calculate ensemble-averaged properties of the flow. The computed mean velocity field accurately satisfies mass conservation. A thin, curved shear layer oriented parallel to the surface is responsible for most of the turbulence production with the turbulence intensity decaying rapidly away from the toe of the breaker (location of largest surface curvature) wi...

Structure of the Airflow above Surface Waves

AbstractIn recent years, much progress has been made to quantify the momentum exchange between the atmosphere and the oceans. The role of surface waves on the airflow dynamics is known to be significant, but our physical understanding remains incomplete. The authors present detailed airflow measurements taken in the laboratory for 17 different wind wave conditions with wave ages [determined by the ratio of the speed of the peak waves Cp to the air friction velocity u* (Cp/u*)] ranging from 1.4 to 66.7. For these experiments, a combined particle image velocimetry (PIV) and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique was developed. Two-dimensional airflow velocity fields were obtained as low as 100 μm above the air–water interface. Temporal and spatial wave field characteristics were also obtained. When the wind stress is too weak to generate surface waves, the mean velocity profile follows the law of the wall. With waves present, turbulent structures are directly observed in the airflow, whereby low-horizon...

Wave-Coherent Air–Sea Heat Flux

Abstract Air–sea fluxes of heat and momentum play a crucial role in weather, climate, and the coupled general circulation of the oceans and atmosphere. Much progress has been made to quantify momentum transfer from the atmosphere to the ocean for a wide range of wind and wave conditions. Yet, despite the fact that global heat budgets are now at the forefront of current research in atmospheric, oceanographic, and climate problems and despite the good research progress in recent years, much remains to be done to better understand and quantify air–sea heat transfer. It is well known that ocean-surface waves may support momentum transfer from the atmosphere to the ocean, but the role of the waves in heat transfer has been ambiguous and poorly understood. Here, evidence is presented that there are surface wave–coherent components of both the sensible and the latent heat fluxes. Presented here are data from three field experiments that show modulations of temperature and humidity at the surface and at 10–14 m a...