Atmosphere-Ocean Interaction

It is recommended to students physical oceanography, meteorology and environmental physics who wish to improve their understanding of the interface between ocean and atmosphere. N. C. Wells

• Preface ; 1. Basic Concepts ; 1.1. Notation ; 1.2. Conservation equations ; 1.2.1. Conservation of matter ; 1.2.2. Conservation of momentum ; 1.2.3. Conservation of energy ; 1.3. Turbulence and turbulent transport ; 1.4. Statistical description of fluctuating quantities ; 1.4.1. Correlation functions and spectra ; 1.4.2. Isotropic turbulence ; 1.5. Scaling techniques and similarity relations ; 2. The State of Matter Near the Interface ; 2.1. Sea water ; 2.1.1. The equation of state ; 2.1.2. Latent heat and saturation vapour pressure of pure water ; 2.1.3. Colligative properties ; 2.1.4. Atmospheric gases in solution ; 2.1.5. Molecular transport coefficients ; 2.2 Moist air ; 2.2.1. The equation of state ; 2.2.2. Molecular transport coefficients ; 2.2.3. Isobaric mixing and fog formation ; 2.2.4. Adiabatic and pseudo-adiabatic changes of state ; 2.3. The liquid-gas interface ; 2.3.1. Laminar sublayers ; 2.3.2. Surface tension ; 2.3.3. Contamination ; 2.4. Bubbles and spray ; 2.4.1. Generation of bubbles and spray droplets ; 2.4.2. Equilibrium pressure in air bubbles and spray droplets ; 2.4.3. Terminal velocities of gas bubbles and spray droplets ; 2.4.4. The size and flux spectra of air bubbles in bubble clouds ; 2.4.5. Sea surface bubble spectra and whitecap coverage as a function of wind speed ; 2.4.6. The size and flux spectra of spray droplets ; 2.4.7. Environmental effects of bubbles and spray ; 2.5 Sea ice ; 2.5.1. Formation and growth ; 2.5.2. Physical properties of sea ice ; 3. Radiation ; 3.1. Definitions ; 3.2. Solar radiation ; 3.2.1. The net short-wave irradiance at the sea surface ; 3.2.2. Reflection at the sea surface ; 3.2.3. Absorption of solar radiation in the ocean ; 3.3. Terrestrial radiation ; 3.3.1. Long-wave emission from the sea surface ; 3.3.2. Radiative transfer in the lower atmosphere ; 3.4. Empirical formulas for estimating the surface radiation budget ; 3.4.1. Short-wave irradiance ; 3.4.2. Short-wave exitance ; 3.4.3. Long-wave irradiance and exitance ; 4. Surface Wind Waves ; 4.1. Basic dynamics of harmonic waves in fluids ; 4.2. Small amplitude waves at the air-sea interface ; 4.3. Second-order quantities and approximations ; 4.4. Sources and sinks of surface wave energy ; 4.4.1. Transfer of energy between waves ; 4.4.2. Dissipation and breaking ; 4.4.3. The generation of waves by the wind ; 4.5. The evolution and parameterization of surface wave spectra ; 5. Turbulent Transfer Near the Interface ; 5.1. The structure of the interface and adjacent layers ; 5.1.1. The profiles in the molecular sublayers ; 5.1.2. The matching of surface layers to molecular sublayers ; 5.1.3. Transition from smooth to rough flow ; 5.2. The effect of stratification ; 5.3. Dynamic interactions between wind and sea surface ; 5.3.1. Surface drift ; 5.3.2. Wind-wave interactions ; 5.4. Transport of trace gases across the interface ; 5.4.1. Application of the surface renewal model ; 5.4.2. The stagnant water film model ; 5.4.3. Experimental methods and results ; 5.5. The sea surface temperature (SST) and the energy budget ; 5.6. Methods to observe the fluxes in the atmospheric surface layer ; 5.6.1. The eddy correlation method ; 5.6.2. The eddy accumulation method and the conditional sampling method ; 5.6.3. The gradient method ; 5.6.4. The dissipation and inertial dissipation methods ; 5.6.5. Fluxes obtained with remote sensing techniques ; 5.6.6. The ageostrophic transport or momentum budget method ; 5.6.7. Bulk parameterizations ; 6. The Planetary Boundary Layer ; 6.1. The Ekman boundary layer ; 6.1.1. The stationary laminar Ekman layer ; 6.1.2. Transient Ekman layers and Ekman transports ; 6.1.3. The depth of the turbulent Ekman layer; surface-waves effects ; 6.2. Coherent structures in the planetary boundary layer ; 6.2.1. Observations of oceanic longitudinal rolls ; 6.2.2. Observations of atmospheric longitudinal rolls ; 6.2.3. Laboratory experiments ; 6.2.4. Numerical simulations ; 6.2.5. Energetics of longitudinal rolls ; 6.2.6. Physical concepts and theories ; 6.3. Parametric representation of PBL fluxes and profiles ; 6.3.1. Diffusive models ; 6.3.2. The transilient scheme ; 6.3.3. Parametric representation of PBL profiles ; 6.4. Mixed-layer models ; 6.4.1. The oceanic mixed layer ; 6.4.2. The cloud-free atmospheric mixed layer ; 6.4.3. The cloud-topped convective marine boundary layer ; 6.5. Discussion and evaluation ; 7. Atmospherically-forced Perturbations in the Oceans ; 7.1. Perturbations of a shallow, homogeneous ocean ; 7.1.1. The different types of atmospheric forcing ; 7.1.2. The forced shallow water equation ; 7.1.3. Perturbations of different extent and duration ; 7.2. The two-layer ocean model ; 7.2.1. The governing equations ; 7.2.2. Gravity waves at an internal density discontinuity ; 7.2.3. The rigid-lid approximation ; 7.2.4. Ekman pumping ; 7.3. Internal inertio-gravity waves ; 7.3.1. Internal waves in a continuously-stratified ocean ; 7.3.2. Long-waves; normal modes ; 7.3.3. Atmospheric forcing of inertio-gravity waves ; 7.4. The response of the open ocean to moving cyclonic storms ; 7.4.1. Observations ; 7.4.2. The simulated short-term oceanic response to moving storms ; 7.4.3. The long-term oceanic response to moving storms ; 7.5. The effect of lateral boundaries on wind-forced perturbations ; 7.5.1. Wind-forced upwelling and downwelling along a straight coast ; 7.5.2. Coastal Kelvin waves ; 7.5.3. Shelf waves ; 7.5.4. Storm surges ; 7.6. Rossby or planetary waves ; 7.6.1. Free planetary waves ; 7.6.2. Forced plantary waves ; 7.7. Equatorial currents and perturbations ; 7.7.1. Balanced equatorial currents ; 7.7.2. Equatorial perturbations ; 8. Large Scale Forcing by Sea Surface Buoyancy Fluxes ; 8.1. The predominant direction and variability of air-sea interactions ; 8.2. Deep convection ; 8.2.1. The general character and organization of deep convection ; 8.2.2. Laboratory experiments and dimensional analysis ; 8.2.3. Deep convection and bottom-water formation in the oceans ; 8.3. The tropical atmosphere ; 8.3.1. Deep convection in the presence of clouds and precipitation ; 8.3.2. The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the Hadley circulation ; 8.3.3. Hurricanes ; 8.4. Some low-frequency ocean-atmosphere feedback processes ; 8.4.1. El Nino and the Southern Oscillation (ENSO) ; 8.4.2. The Somali current and the Indian monsoon ; 8.4.3. Interactions between the hydrological cycle and the thermo-haline circulation