Wind Tunnel Studies of Sea Spray Production for Hurricane Research Begins

Contact: Chris Fairall

In January 2003, Dr. C. W. Fairall of ETL will participate in a 1-month study of the production of sea spray in very strong winds at the wind-wave facility at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Water Research Laboratory in Manley, Australia. This work is part of a joint USWRP and Office of Naval Research study of hurricanes and air-sea interaction in strong winds. ETL is cooperating with Dr. William Asher (University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory), Prof. Mike Banner (UNSW Applied Mathematics Department), and Dr. William Peirson (UNSW Water Research Laboratory).

ETL and UW will be supplying specialized droplet measuring instruments to determine droplet size distributions, trajectories, etc. The Manley facility was chosen because of its strong wind capabilities and the interests of the wave-breaking modeling group (headed by Prof. Banner) at UNSW. The purpose of wind tunnel work is to examine/verify various components of a new physically-based model of sea spray production. The model links droplet production to near-surface atmospheric turbulence statistics, the wave breaking energy cascade, and the aerodynamic properties of sea spray droplets. The production model is being used by other modeling groups at Penn State University, the U. S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), MIT, and University of Miami who are studying the effects of sea spray on hurricane intensification. The goal of this work is to develop sea spray parameterizations to improve operational hurricane forecasts. The wind tunnel study will be followed up with field studies on the NOAA P-3 research aircraft in the 2003 and 2004 hurricane seasons.

Related Links:

• Marine and Air-Sea Interaction Group
• Coupled Boundary Layers/Air-Sea Transfer: Hurricane Observation