Correlations of whitecap coverage and gas transfer velocity with microwave brightness temperature for plunging and spilling breaking waves

摘要

Bubbles and bubble plumes generated by wind-induced breaking waves significantly enhance the gas exchange across the interface between the ocean and atmosphere under high-wind conditions. Whitecaps, or active spilling wave crests, are the sea-surface manifestation of the bubbles and bubble plumes in the subsurface mixed layer, and the fractional area of the sea surface covered by which has been proposed to correlate linearly with the air-sea gas transfer velocity. The presence of whitecaps substantially increases the microwave brightness temperature of the sea surface. It could be possible to estimate the whitecap coverage from the sea-surface microwave brightness temperature would also be very helpful in developing a remote-sensing model for predicting air-sea gas transfer velocities from microwave brightness temperatures. As a part of an air-water gas exchange experiment conducted in an outdoor surf pool, measurements were made that were designed to investigate the correlation between whitecap coverage and microwave brightness temperature. A mechanical wave maker was located at the deep end of the pool and the generated waves propagate and break towards the shallow end of the pool. Two wave patterns characteristic of plunging and spilling breaking waves at four wave heights from 0.3 m to 1.2 m were produced.