Breaking And Dissipation Of Ocean Surface Waves

BREAKING AND DISSIPATION OF OCEAN SURFACE WAVES Over the past 15 years, our understanding of the breaking and dissipation of ocean waves has undergone a dramatic leap forward. From a phenomenon which was very poorly understood, it has emerged as a process whose physics is clarified and quantified. This book presents the state of the art of our current understanding of the breaking and dissipation of ocean waves. Wave breaking is an intermittent random process, very fast by comparison with other processes in the wave system. Distribution of wave breaking on the water surface is not continuous, but its role in maintaining the energy balance within the continuous wind–wave field is critical. Such breaking represents one of the most interesting and challenging problems for fluid mechanics and physical oceanography. Ocean wave breaking also plays the primary role in the air–sea exchange of momentum, mass and heat, and it is of significant importance for ocean remote sensing, coastal and ocean engineering, navigation and other practical applications. This book outlines the state of wave-breaking research and presents the main outstanding problems. Non-breaking dissipation and non-dissipative effects of breaking waves, their influence on the atmospheric boundary layer and on upper-ocean mixing, including extreme weather conditions, are also discussed. Breaking and Dissipation of Ocean Surface Waves is a valuable resource for anyone interested in this topic: researchers, modellers, forecasters, engineers and graduate students in physical oceanography, meteorology and ocean engineering. ALEXANDER BABANIN is a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. His bachelor’s degree in Physics and master’s degree in Physical Oceanography are from the Faculty of Physics at Lomonosov Moscow State University, and his Ph.D. on Spectral Characteristics of Surface Wind Wave Fields is from the Marine Hydrophysical Institute in Sevastopol. His research interests involve wind-generated waves, air–sea interaction and ocean turbulence, including dynamics of surface ocean waves, wave breaking and dissipation, air–sea boundary layer, extreme oceanic conditions, wave statistics, ocean mixing and remote sensing. BREAKING AND DISSIPATION OF OCEAN SURFACE WAVES ALEXANDER V. BABANIN Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107001589 © Cambridge University Press 2011 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place wit