Early report on field observations of Langmuir turbulence: from relevant forcing parameters, to multi-scale interactions, to impact on the mixed layer

Ivan B. Savelyev1, Qing Wang2, Kipp Kipp Shearman3, Mark A Sletten4, Geoffrey B Smith5, Djamal Khelif6, Dana K Savidge7, Trent Moore8, Tony de Paolo9, Dr. Eric J Terrill, Ph.D.10, Ryan Yamaguchi2, David Miller11, Glendon Frick12, Yakov Toporkov12, Steve Menk12, Robert Jansen12, Richard Lind13, Gia Lamela11 and Henry Potter14, (1)Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, United States, (2)Naval Postgraduate School, Department of Meteorology, Monterey, CA, United States, (3)Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Corvallis, OR, United States, (4)Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC, United States, (5)Naval Research Laboratory, Remote Sensing, Washington, DC, United States, (6)University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States, (7)Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Physical Oceanography, Savannah, GA, United States, (8)University of Georgia, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Savannah, GA, United States, (9)University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, United States, (10)Scripps Institution of Oceanography – UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, (11)US Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC, United States, (12)US Naval Research Laboratory, (13)US Naval Postgraduate School, Meteorology, United States, (14)Texas A&M University, Oceanography, College Station, United States
Abstract:
This presentation will describe the design of a recent large field experiment, as well as its preliminary results pertaining to Langmuir turbulence (LT). The dataset includes airborne remote sensing observations of LT’s horizontal spatial structure, as well as sub-surface measurements utilizing bottom mounted and glider mounted current profilers. Resolved relevant forcing parameters include directional surface wave spectrum, as well as air-sea heat and momentum fluxes. This combined dataset aims not only to provide observations of Langmuir turbulence structure over a variety of weather conditions encountered during the ~30 days duration of the experiment, but also to provide all parameters necessary to initialize and validate various numerical and theoretical models attempting to resolve Langmuir turbulence and its effects on the mixed layer dynamics.
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