Meandering Flows in the Oceanic and Atmospheric Boundary Layers due to Breaking Ocean Waves

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344482927

Breaking waves generate meandering currents and winds in the oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers (Dommermuth et al., 2014). Meandering flows are revisited here for five types of breaking waves. Streaming flows are mean flows that include Eulerian and Lagrangian contributions. Meandering flows include both difference (streaming) and sum frequency interactions. Meandering flows, like streaming flows, have Eulerian and Lagrangian contributions. Normal to the free surface, the meandering flows exponentially attenuate away from the free surface with an oscillatory behavior. The magnitudes of the meandering flows agree with Langmuir’s original observations (Langmuir, 1938). The good agreement suggests that the formation of Langmuir circulations is due to meandering flows.… Read more

Magnetic Induction due to the Effects of Breaking Ocean Waves

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344482876

Breaking waves generate meandering currents and winds in the oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers. The length scales and frequencies of the meandering currents and winds are respectively longer and higher than those of the underlying ocean waves. The difference in spatial and temporal scales makes it possible to indirectly measure the meandering current in the oceanic boundary layer using the principles of magnetic induction that would otherwise be difficult using more direct methods. Such measurements are desirable to quantify mixing in the oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers due to meandering flows.

Research Papers and Reports

Langmuir Circulations and Meandering Flows

Windrows

The Ocean’s Heartbeat

Electric and Magnetic Fields of Meandering Flows

  • Dommermuth, D. G., “Magnetic Induction due to the Effects of Breaking Ocean Waves,” ResearchGate preprint, Oct 2020.
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344482876
  • Dommermuth, D. G., “The Generation of Electric Fields by Meandering Flows,” ResearchGate preprint, Oct 2020. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344787449 (Please see more recent technical reports on the electric field that is induced by the transport of space charge density by the meandering wind.)
  • Dommermuth, D. G., “The Electric and Magnetic Fields due to the Transport of Space Charge Density by the Meandering Wind over the Ocean Surface,” ResearchGate preprint, Sep 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354665883 (Please see more recent technical reports on the electric field that is induced by the transport of space charge density by the meandering wind.)
  • Dommermuth, D.G., “The Electric and Magnetic Fields due to the Transport of Space Charge Density by the Meandering Wind over the Ocean Surface: New Evidence of an Inverse Energy Cascade in the Lower Atmosphere,” ResearchGate preprint, Sep 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354935485
  • Dommermuth, D.G., “The Electric and Magnetic Fields due to Magnetic Induction by Meandering Flows in the Oceanic and Atmospheric Boundary Layers: New Evidence of an Inverse Energy Cascade in the Upper Ocean,” ResearchGate preprint, Oct 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355215804
  • Dommermuth, D.G., “The Magnetic Fields due to Magnetic Induction by Meandering Drift Currents,” ResearchGate preprint, Oct 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355651651
  • Dommermuth, D.G., “A Parametric Study of the Electric Field in the Atmosphere due to the Transport of Space Charge Density by the Meandering Wind over the Ocean Surface,” ResearchGate preprint, Nov 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356002487

Maxima Scripts for Meandering Flows

  • Dommermuth, D.G., “Maxima Coding for Solving the Electric and Magnetic Fields due to the Transport of Space Charge Density over the Ocean Surface: New Evidence of an Inverse Energy Cascade in the Lower Atmosphere,” ResearchGate code, Sep 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354935522
  • Dommermuth, D.G., “A Maxima Script for Solving the Electric and Magnetic Fields due to Magnetic Induction by Meandering Flows in the Oceanic and Atmospheric Boundary Layers: New Evidence of an Inverse Energy Cascade in the Upper Ocean,” ResearchGate code, Oct 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355209396

Fortran Codes for Meandering Flows

  • Dommermuth, D.G., “A Fortran Code for Calculating Electric and Magnetic Fields due to the Transport of Space Charge Density by the Meandering Wind over the Ocean Surface: New Evidence of an Inverse Energy Cascade in the Lower Atmosphere,” ResearchGate code, Sep 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354935467
  • Dommermuth, D.G., “A Fortran Code for Calculating the Electric and Magnetic Fields due to Magnetic Induction by Meandering Flows in the Oceanic and Atmospheric Boundary Layers: New Evidence of an Inverse Energy Cascade in the Upper Ocean,” ResearchGate code, Oct 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355209298
  • Dommermuth, D.G., “F90 Coding for Calculating the Magnetic Fields due to Magnetic Induction by Meandering Drift Currents,” ResearchGate code, Oct 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355651566
  • Dommermuth, D.G., “F90 Coding for a Parametric Study of the Electric Field in the Atmosphere due to the Transport of Space Charge Density by the Meandering Wind over the Ocean Surface,” ResearchGate code, Nov 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356002311

The Effect of the Wind Drift on Wave Growth, Wave Breaking, and the Production of Turbulence

The Effect of Standing Waves on the Wave Energy Cascade

Helmholtz Decompositions into Wavy and Vortical Portions

  • Dommermuth, D. G., “The laminar interactions of a pair of vortex tubes with a free surface,” J. Fluid Mech., Vol. 246, 1993, pp. 91–115. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022112093000059
  • Mui, R. C. and Dommermuth, D. G., “The vortical structure of a near-breaking gravity-capillary wave,” Journal of Fluids Engineering, Vol. 117, 1994,355–361. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2817269
  • Dommermuth, D. G., Novikov, E.A., and Mui, C.Y., “The Interaction of Surface Waves with Turbulence,” The Proceedings of the Symposium on Free-Surface Turbulence, ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting, Lake Tahoe, California, USA, 1994. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271527603

Entrainment and Mixing due to Plunging Breaking Waves

Numerical Methods

The Entrainment and Mixing of Air due to a Rectilinear Vortex Moving Parallel to a Free Surface

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342247893

A rectilinear vortex with a core filled with air models a plunging breaking wave whose tip has pinched off a pocket of air. For a rectilinear vortex moving parallel to the free surface, air is entrained as the free surface wraps around the axial vorticity. The amount of air that is entrained depends on a Froude number that is based on the circulation of vorticity. Cross-axis vorticity is formed as a result of instabilities in the axial vorticity. Roll-wave instabilities form on the outer face of the sheet of water that wraps around the axial vorticity. For sufficiently high Froude numbers, both the axial and cross-axis vortex tubes entrain air. The air that is entrained is driven by pressure gradients toward the centers of the axial and cross-axis vortex tubes where the pressures are minimal.