“Wind generated mixing and turbulence at the surface of natural water bodies”
Dr. Fabrice Veron
University of Delaware
Monday, February 14, 2005
3:30 PM
Room 109, Crittenton Hall
Abstract
The upper layers of the ocean and other large natural water bodies play a key
role in the surface fluxes of momentum, gas, heat, and mass. Wind generates waves,
currents and turbulence, and with the globally averaged wind speed in the range of
6-8 m/s, much of the time the air-sea interface is in a low-wind regime. It is
then clear that the stability, transition, and subsequent mixing at the surface
of the ocean and other natural water bodies are of great importance for many
processes, from local to global, and play key roles in the multiple surface fluxes.
We present the results from laboratory and field experiments on the stability of a
wind-driven water surfaces, turbulence and the effects on the heat and gas fluxes.
The problem is rendered all the more difficult and interesting, as there are couplings
between turbulence, currents and surface waves. It consequently appears that the heat
flux, for example, is modulated by the surface wave field. The results are discussed in
the context of ocean-atmosphere interactions and compared with available theoretical
results.
Biography
Dr. Veron received a D.E.A. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of
Bordeaux, France and his Ph.D. degree from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Some of his research interests are in the areas of the dynamics of turbulence and
mixing at the sea surface, atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers, linear and
non-linear surface gravity capillary waves, and wind wave generation. Dr. Veron
is presently an Assistant Professor and Director of the Air-Sea Interaction
Laboratory at the University of Delaware.
Reception before seminar at 3:00 PM
Crittenton Hall
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA 23529
757-683-5548
Last updated 2/4/2005.
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