Mechanics of Multiphase Fluxes Over the Ocean

Abstract

The study of multiphase fluxes of water over the ocean has long been recognized by scientists (Roll, 1965) as being important to the understanding of the exchange process between the ocean and the atmosphere. Recently, Ling and Kao (1976) have successfully obtained a preliminary solution showing how water droplets produced by both the whitecaps and sea sprays play a major role in the transport of energy and moisture from the ocean. The evaporating water droplets produce a large moisture source for the humidity field, while the latent heat of evaporation contributes to a large heat sink for the temperature field. The resultant temperature stratification further influences the stability of the wind field which in turn affects the exchange processes. Thus the problem was solved by a set of coupled equations governing both the wind, the droplet concentration, the humidity, and the temperature fields. In addition, one must further consider the coupling effect between the surface layers of the atmosphere and the ocean. Under high sea states most of the forces produced between the wind and the sea are through the form drag on the waves. This produces a surface (drift) layer of water to move faster than the orbital velocity of the wave crest, thus causing the crest to break.