Abstract
The energy and mass exchange processes and temperature structure within the surface layers at an air-water interface have been examined in a large laboratory facility. Measurements in the air surface layer at low and moderate windspeeds (≤10 m/s) establihed that the air flow is fully rough for U∞ > 4 m/s and that, while the magnitude of heat transfer depends on surface conditions, the mechanisms of transfer apparently do not. Measurements in the water surface layers plus transport data from the air surface layer led first to determination of the aqueous sublayer thickness and subsequently to a coupled surface layer theory (based on rough boundary theory) which is in quantitative agreement with experiment. Measurements at high wind-speed (>10 m/s) and under conditions of wave breaking and spray formation are used to show (1) that spray evaporation does not make a significant contribution to the total evaporation and latent heat transport and (2) that, when experiment and theory are compared, wave breaking and spray formation apparently act to decrease the transport of sensible and latent heat compared to that expected for the given wave height and surface drag.
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© 1978 Plenum Press, New York
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Street, R.L., Wang, C.S., McIntosh, D.A., Miller, A.W. (1978). Fluxes Through the Boundary Layers at an Air-Water Interface: Laboratory Studies. In: Favre, A., Hasselmann, K. (eds) Turbulent Fluxes Through the Sea Surface, Wave Dynamics, and Prediction. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-9806-9_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-9806-9_8
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