NSF Award
2319116
Wave breaking regulates fluxes of energy, momentum, and mass across the air-sea interface, all of which are important for weather and climate. Breaking is multiscale and highly nonlinear and therefore is not analytically trackable. Much of our understanding is statistical, built on theoretical constraints and laboratory, numerical, and field experiments. Despite recent advances, our ability to predict breaking remains limited, and the directional spread of the wave spectrum is an important factor that has not been well studied. Recent studies show that wave-breaking dissipation timescales are not uniform in all directions, and through non-linear resonant interactions with waves, it contributes to the directional spread of waves shorter than the dominant wavelength. This project will measure waves and wave-breaking, including their spread in both wavelengths and directions, from a fixed tower, in order to better understand these resonant interactions. The data and code generated will be available online with open access. Results from this project will be incorporated into courses in Physical Oceanography and Air-Sea Interaction. The project will support a graduate student and at least one undergraduate student will participate in an undergraduate research project. The project will support the research of a Hispanic investigator, who is a mentor in a pilot program at UConn serving students of traditionally underrepresented communities. The results from this study will be used to generate educational material for outreach activities and events within the local community, including the yearly event Ocean Week at local elementary schools for 2nd-year students, and the Young Explorer Science program which provides research and science exposure to high school students within underrepresented communities of the Groton/New London area.<br/><br/><br/>The overarching goal of this proposal is to improve the understanding of directional wave-breaking kinematics and their impact on the dynamics to constrain and improve spectral breaking dissipation parameterizations and ultimately improve wave spectral models. Coincident measurements will be made of the directional energy spectrum and directional breaking kinematics using stereo infrared and visible imagery from Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory Air-Sea Interaction Tower. Observations will be made under a wide range of conditions including high winds (>10 m/s), misaligned winds, and dominant waves allowing for a detailed characterization of the two-dimensional breaking kinematics and dynamics over a wide range of scales. Additionally, the project will characterize the breaking probability anisotropically; quantify kinematic wave-breaking onset criterion; analyze the directional energy balance of short gravity waves; and constrain and improve wave-breaking dissipation parameterizations.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
