SMALL SCALE AIR-SEA INTERACTION
Ocean 665: Topics in Physical Oceanography

Course Outline

Instructors: Roger Lukas (MSB418, x67896)
Gary Barnes (HIG335, x62565)

Text: An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology
by Roland B. Stull, Kluwer Academic Publishers

1 Introduction to Air-Sea Interaction (8/23 & 8/25)

Course organization

Prerequisites (Ocean 620 or Met 600 + math through ordinary and partial differential equations; or, permission of instructors)

Discussion of Course Outline

Grading: homework problems, term project/report

Motivation

large-scale ocean-atmosphere interaction

coupled perspectives

2 Review of Basic Meteorology (8/30-9/1) and Physical Oceanography (9/6-9/8)

The state of matter near the interface

sea water

moist air

liquid-gas interface

bubbles and spray

Radiation

Mean boundary layer characteristics

definition of the boundary layer, surface layer, mixed layer

vertical structure of T, q/S, V

virtual potential temperature and moist static energy

neutral, stable, and unstable boundary layers

3 Concepts and Mathematical Tools of Turbulence (9/13-9/29)

Statistics Definition of turbulence; conduction versus convection

mixing length hypothesis

Similarity theory; log wind profile

Application of governing equations to turbulent flow; Reynold’s decomposition

Prognostic equations for turbulent fluxes and variances

Turbulent kinetic energy, stability, and scaling

Boundary conditions and external forcings

4 Parameterization of turbulent Fluxes (10/4-10/20)

Measurement of fluxes

Bulk aerodynamic equations

Momentum flux

Sensible and latent heat fluxes

Gaseous fluxes

5 Boundary Layer Models (10/25-11/29)

Turbulent kinetic energy budget (10/25)

Ocean mixed layer models (10/27-11/10)

Bulk TKE budget model: Kraus-Turner (read Niiler and Kraus)

Influence of upwelling on TKE budget: Garwood (1977)

Influence of shear on mixed layer: Price, Weller, Pinkel (1986)

Atmosphere planetary boundary layer models (11/15-11/29)

neutral surface layer

stable boundary layer

convective mixed layer

Ekman layers; influence of shear

Mesoscale convection

Large-scale divergence

6 Coupled Boundary Layers (12/1-12/8)

Feedbacks

1-D radiative-convective equilibrium

Sensitivity of results to air-sea fluxes