Individual characteristics of whitecaps and volumetric description of bubbles

Author

Wu, Jin

Author_Institution

Graduate CoIl. of Marine Studies, Delaware Univ., Lewes, DE, USA

Volume

17

Issue

1

fYear

1992

fDate

1/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

150

Lastpage

158

Abstract

Measurements of whitecap coverages of the sea surface and air bubbles in the near-surface ocean are presented. Reported data of individual whitecaps are first analyzed; their individual characteristics are used along with global descriptions to determine the spatial density of whitecaps on the sea surface. The influence of water temperature is found to be rather significant in the production of bubbles, and therefore of whitecaps. Consequently, different distributions and coverages are proposed for bubbles and whitecaps in cold and warm waters. The vertical distribution of volumetric concentrations of spatially dispersed bubbles is obtained from that of numerical concentrations. Results of whitecaps and bubbles are compared to further explore physical processes of their productions by the wind

Keywords

bubbles; ocean waves; surface waves (fluid); temperature; wind; air bubbles; cold waters; global descriptions; near-surface ocean; ocean wave breaking; sea surface; spatial density; spatially dispersed bubbles; vertical distribution; volumetric concentrations; warm waters; water temperature; whitecap coverages; wind; Atmospheric measurements; Ocean temperature; Production; Remote sensing; Sea measurements; Sea surface; Spraying; Surface waves; Temperature measurement; Wind speed;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Oceanic Engineering, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0364-9059

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/48.126963

Filename

126963