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Updated: May 1, 2026
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Measurements of Waves in a Wind-wave Tank Under Steady and Time-varying Wind Forcing
Published on: February 13, 2018
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Distribution of breaking waves at the ocean surface
W Kendall Melville1, Peter Matusov
1Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0213, USA. kmelville@ucsd.edu
Nature
|May 3, 2002
Summary
Ocean wave breaking, crucial for air-sea exchange, is better understood through new aerial imaging. Wave breaking length scales with wind speed cubed, and mixing is dominated by low-velocity, short-wavelength breaking events.
Area of Science:
- Oceanography
- Fluid Dynamics
- Atmospheric Science
Background:
- Surface waves are critical for atmosphere-ocean exchange of mass, momentum, and energy.
- Wave breaking, a key dissipation process, influences air-sea fluxes but is poorly quantified.
- Understanding wave breaking is essential for climate and weather modeling.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify and statistically describe sea-surface processes associated with wave breaking.
- To investigate the relationship between wind speed and the characteristics of breaking wave fronts.
- To determine the dominant wave breaking characteristics influencing ocean surface mixing.
Main Methods:
- Utilized aerial imaging and advanced analysis techniques to capture and study wave breaking events.
- Performed statistical analysis on measurements of breaking wave fronts and their speeds.
- Quantified the sea surface area affected by wave breaking.
Main Results:
- The length of breaking wave fronts per unit area scales with the cube of wind speed.
- Breaking front length per unit area follows an exponential function of front speed within the measured range.
- Low-velocity, short-wavelength wave breaking events dominate the fraction of the ocean surface mixed.
Conclusions:
- This study provides a novel statistical description of wave breaking dynamics.
- The findings offer improved quantification of wave breaking, essential for accurate air-sea flux modeling.
- Understanding the role of different wave breaking scales in mixing is crucial for climate science.
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