Table Of ContentOCEANIC WHITECAPS
andTheirRole in Air-Sea ExchangeProcesses
Quilted patchwork wall-hanging depicting sea foam
(oceanic whitecaps) as perceived in various cultures.
Executed by Helen Hardesty and Elizabeth Monahan.
Oceanic Whitecaps
and Their Role in
Air-Sea Exchange Processes
Editedby
EDWARD C. MONAHAN
MarineSciencesInstitute,UniversityofConnecticut,
AveryPoint,U.S.A.
and
GEAROID MAC NIOCAILL
UniversityCollege,Galway,Ireland
D. Reidel Publishing Company
AMEMBEROFTHEKLUWERACADEMICPUBLISHERSGROUP
Dordrecht/ Boston/ Lancaster/ Tokyo
Published inassociation with the GALWAY UNIVERSITY PRESS
LibraryofCongressCatalogingin PublicationData
Oceanicwhitecapsand theirrole inair-seaexchange processes.
(Oceanic scienceslibrary)
"Publishedinassociation with theGalway University Press."
"Proceedings of the 1983 Galway Whitecap Workshop"-CIP foreword.
Bibliography: p.
Includesindex.
I. Ocean waves-Congresses. 2. Ocean-atmosphere interaction-Con
gresses. I. Monahan, Edward c., 1936 II. Mac Niocaill, Gearoid.
III. GalwayWhitecapWorkshop(1983) IV. Series.
GC206.027 1986 551.47'02 86-6521
ISBN-13: 978-90-277-2251-5 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-4668-2
001: 10.1007/978-94-009-4668-2
Published byD.ReidelPublishingCompany
P.O.Box 17,3300AA Dordrecht,Holland
Soldand distributedin the U.S.A. andCanada
byKluwerAcademicPublishers,
190OldDerbyStreet,Hingham,MA02043, U.S.A.
Inallothercountries,soldanddistributed
byKluwerAcademicPUblishersGroup,
P.O.Box322,3300AHDordrecht,Holland
Thiswork isrelated to Departmentofthe NavyGrant NOOOI4-83-G-Oll0
issued by theOfficeofNaval Research.
The UnitedStatesGovernmenthasaroyalty-freelicense throughoutthe1V0rld
in all copyrightablematerialcontainedherein.
AllRightsReserved
© 1986 byD.ReidelPublishingCompany,Dordrecht,Holland
Reprintofthe originaledition 1986
and copyrightholdersasspecifiedonappropriate pageswithin
Nopartofthematerialprotected by thiscopyrightnoticemaybereproduced orutilized
inanyform orbyanymeans,electronicor mechanical,includingphotocopying,
recordingorbyanyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem,
withoutwrittenpermissionfrom thecopyrightowner
CONTENTS
Foreword VB
Afterword Xl
D. C.Blanchard:ThelifeandscienceofAlfredH.Woodcock 1
ScientificpapersofDrAlfredH.Woodcock 12
M.S.Longuet-Higgins:Wavegroupstatistics 15
Y. Toba&M.Koga: Aparameterdescribingoverallconditionsofwavebreaking,
whitecapping,sea-sprayproductionandwindstress 37
L.Hasse: OnCharnock'srelationfortheroughnessatsea 49
S.A. Thorpe: Bubbleclouds:areviewoftheirdetectionbysonar,ofrelated
models,andofhowKvmaybedetermined 57
B.D.Johnson: Bubblepopulations: backgroundandbreakingwaves 69
F.MacIntyre: Onreconcilingopticalandacousticalbubblespectra
inthemixedlayer 75
L.Memery&L.Merlivat: Thecontributionofbubblestogastransferacrossan
air-waterinterface 95
F. Resch:Oceanicairbubblesasgeneratorsofmarineaerosols 101
]. Wu: Whitecaps,bubbles,andspray 113
1. G.6Muircheartaigh&E. C.Monahan: Statisticalaspectsoftherelationship
betweenoceanicwhitecapcoverage,windspeedandother
environmentalfactors 125
M.Koga:Characteristicfeaturesofawindwavefieldwithoccasional
breaking,andsplashingdropletsathighwinds 129
S.].Hogan: Surfacetensioneffectsinnonlinearwaves 147
]. C. Scott:Theeffectoforganicfilmsonwatersurfacemotions 159
E. C.Monahan,D.E. Spiel&K. L.Davidson:Amodelofmarineaerosol
generationviawhitecapsandwavedisruption 167
H.].Exton,].Latham,P.M.Park,M.H. Smith,&R.R.Allan:Theproduction
anddispersalofmaritimeaerosol 175
C. W. Fairall&K. L.Davidson:Dynamicsandmodelingofaerosolsinthe
marineatmosphericboundarylayer 195
M. C.Spillane,E. C.Monahan,P.A.Bowyer,D.M.Doyle&P.]. Stabeno:
Whitecapsandglobalfluxes 209
B. Vonnegut: Comparisonsbetweenelectricalprocessesoccurringover
landandoverwater 219
S. G. Gathman: Atmosphericelectricspacechargeneartheoceansurface 227
VI CONTENTS
M. Griggs:Satellitemeasurementsofaerosolsoveroceansurfaces 245
P.Koepke: Remotesensingsignaturesofwhitecaps 251
P.J. Stabeno&E. C.Monahan: Theinfluenceofwhitecapsonthe
albedooftheseasurface 261
ABSTRACTS OF POSTER PAPERS
P.A.Bowyer:Anattempttodeterminethespacechargeproducedbyasingle
whitecapunderlaboratoryconditions 267
M.Briquet: Acousticpropagationinliquidcontaininggasbubbles:effect
ofthebubbles'sizeanddistribution 267
S.D.Burk:Thegeneration,transportanddepositionofmarineaerosols:
aturbulencemodelingstudy 267
L.CavaleriandS. Zecchetto:Momentumfluxinwindwaves 268
R.Cipriano: Furtherexperimentswithalaboratorybreakingwavemodel 268
D.M.Doyle:Whitecaps,1O-mwindspeedandmarineaerosolinter-relationships
asobservedduringthe1980STREXexperiment 269
H.J.Exton,M.H. Smith&R.R.Allan:Aerosolmeasurementsataremotecoastalsite 269
H. Gucinski: Bubblecoalescenceinsea-andfreshwater: requisites
foranexplanation 270
A. W.Hogan:Thedistributionofaerosoloverseaandice 270
S. G.Jennings: Thecomplexrefractiveindexofmarineaerosolconstituents 270
B.R.Kerman,S.Peteherych&H.H.Zwick:Whitecapcoverage
measurementsusinganairbornemulti-spectralscanner 271
P. Koepke:Oceanicwhitecaps: theireffectivereflectance 272
E.J.Mack: Aerosolpopulationsinthemarineatmosphere 274
E. C.MonahanandC.F.Monahan:Theinfluenceoffetchonwhitecap
coverageasdeducedfromtheAlteWeserLight-stationobserver'slog 275
P.M.Park&H.j.Exton:Theeffectofstabilityontheconcentration
ofaerosolinthemarineatmosphericboundarylayer 277
C.Pounder:Sodiumchlorideandwatertemperatureeffectsonbubbles 278
M.-Y. Su&A. W. Green: Bubblegenerationbysurfacewavebreaking 278
L.S.Syzdek: Bacterialenrichments intheaerosolfroma
laboratorybreakingwave 279
SupplementaryBibliography 281
Index 291
FOREWORD
Whilevarious volumeshavepreviouslybeende bable, answer to this question liesintheobser
votedtosuch topics asdropletsandbubbles,it vation that while whitecaps are some of the
is ourconceitthat this is the firstvolumededi most apparentfeaturesassociatedwithhighsea
cated to the description of the phenomenon states, they havealso pro\'ed to besomeofthe
of oceanic whitecapping, and to a considera most difficultobjects to measureanddescribe
tion of therolethesewhitecapsplayinsatellite quantitatively, and while scientists as agroup
marineremote sensing,insea-saltaerosolgene may like to tackle difficult problems, we
ration, andinabroadrangeofotherseasurface should notbe accused ofunduemodestywhen
processes. This observation, reOecting in part we observethat asagroupwealsohaveafinite
the relatively modest attention paid until re tolerance for frustration and ahuman,perhaps
cently by the scientific community to white aesthetic, prejudice in favourofnaturalpheno
caps, is noteworthy when one considers that menathatareamcnabletodetaileddescription.
collectivelywhitecapsare to thegeneralpublic It is appropriate to note that ProfessorWood
one of the most striking features of the sea cock, to whom this volume is dedicated, ap
scape.Whitecapsfeature prominentlyin many proached the task of describing the bubbles
paintings of nautical subjects, and in nu that comprise oceanic foam patches from the
merous poems, bothancientandmodern. No perspectiveofan observer, keen ofeyeandun
novelistindescribingastormysea,failstomen encumbered by the biases of the academic
tion these transientfoampatches.Intheverna scientist.
cularofvariousculturestherearediverse,often That aconsiderableresearcheffort,involving
animate, terms,suchaswhitehorses, hares, or theoretical and laboratory approaches as well
geese,* used to describe these commonly oc aswork atsea, has recentlybeencommittedto
curingfeatures on theseasurface.(Perhapsthe obtaining a description and understanding of
ultimate measure oftheir impactonthepublic thewhitecappingphenomenonandrelatedpro
consciousness is that at least oneprofessional cesses, will, we hope, be manifest to anyone
sports team, i.e. theVancouver,BritishColum who reads thevariouscontributionsthat com
bia,soccerside,hasadoptedthemastheirsym prise this volume. Resources have been made
boU). availablefortheinvestigationofwhitecapsnow
Whyuntillatelyhasthescientificcommunity that their important role invarioussea-airex
shown scant interest in whitecaps, when they changeprocesseshasbecomeapparent.There
represent so obvious a feature of the sea sur cent attention given to the physics of the
face? One possible, andperhapsthe most pro- marineatmospheric boundary layerhashelped
to stimulate the study of whitecaps. With the
*See the workshop bannerin the group photograph coming-of-age of satellite remote sensing, we
foradepictionofanumberoftheserepresentations. find thatwhitecapsmay prove to bemorerea-
I'll
Vlll FOREWORD
dily detectable andamenable tomeasurement, ume will serveas asourcebookfor thosenow
using various passivemicrowavesystems, than turningto thestudyofwhitecaps.Tothisend,
are near-surface wind speeds, and that indeed wehaveincludedasanappendixasupplement
whitecap measurements maybeusedasaprac ary bibliography, in whichare listedpertinent
tical basis of estimating thesewindspeeds,an articles notcitedby theauthors ofthevarious
idea that would not comeas asurpriseto Ad chapters.
miral Beaufortifhewerealive in retirementin As theconvenorofthe1983WhitecapWork
hisnativeCo.Meathtoday. shop, I wish to express my gratitude to allof
Thisvolume, andthe 1983GalwayWhitecap the authors who have contributed to thisvol
Workshopwhose proceedingsitrepresents,has ume, to my colleagues at University College,
beenmadepossible byagrantfrom theOffice Galway, who have helped with thevariousas
ofNaval Research 0ftheUnitedStatesNavyto pectsoftheworkshopandwiththepreparation
University College, Galway, of the National of the volume, and to theOfficeofNavalRe
University of Ireland. It is the ferventwishof search,Washington, whichhasprovidedthene
the organisers of this workshop that research cessary funding, andgivenme,andanumberof
on this topicwill henceforthprogressatsucha the otherparticipantsinthisworkshop,theen
rate that anothersuchworkshop,and asimilar couragement to pursue our individual investi
proceedingsvolume,will withinafew yearsbe gationsofwhitecap-relatedphenomena.
deemed desirable and indeed necessary. We
would hope that such a second meeting on EdwardC.Monahan
whitecaps could be heldbeforetheendofthe AboardtheFSPolarstern
current decade. We trust that thispresentvol- 81031'N,SO39'E,july1983.
AFTERWORD
Some time haselapsed since theWhitecapWorkshop
was held in University College, Galway. Despite the
bestofintentionsoftheeditorsandtheconscientious
adherencetodeadlinesonthepartofallthecontribu
tors, publication of this volume has suffered an un
anticipated delay which was outside the control of
the publishersand editors. Nevertheless, the material
presented in this volumestillrepresentsanup-to-date
authoritative state-of-the-art review in this area of
physicaloceanography.
Iwould like to thank my co-editor Gear6id Mac
NiocailL the staff of Officina Typographica, the
Galway University Press, and Mrs. Fran~oise Yates,
Mrs. Elizabeth Monahan, Miss Ann Duffy, and
Miss Nancy Monahan, for their editorial and ad
ministrative efforts. I would also like to thank D.
Reidel Publishing Company for efficiently organis
ing publication after the final camera-ready type
script became available. Lastly, our thanks go to
the U.S. Office of Naval Research and University
College, Galway, for making the Workshop, and this
resultingvolume,possible.
EdwardC.Monahan
Galway
January 1986
IX
