Pier‐Based Measurements of Air‐Sea Momentum Fluxes Over Shoaling Waves During DUNEX

Abstract

AbstractOpen‐ocean homogeneity is violated in the near shore region by wave shoaling and breaking, varying wind‐swell incidence angles, complex currents patterns, rapid bathymetric changes, and shore‐side topographic features. Consequently, existing drag coefficient parameterizations, which were largely developed in deep water, are not effective. This has an adverse impact on marine forecasts, weather and climate models, and coastal morphology prediction. There exists a critical need to identify and systematically quantify the impact of coastal processes and features on the momentum flux over a wide range of wind speeds. As part of the DUring Nearshore Event eXperiment at the Field Research Facility in Duck, NC, six months of direct flux observations were collected from a tower at the end of a 560 m pier. These were used to study the variability of the aerodynamic drag coefficient. Results show that for winds above 3 m s−1 the drag coefficient was between 15% and 50% higher for onshore winds when compared to alongshore. This is attributed to more energy in the downwind component of the flux around the dominant wave frequency for onshore winds, and is independent of wind speed. Holistically, the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) algorithm over predicts the drag coefficient for shoaling waves. When separated by wind direction, COARE best predicts the drag coefficient for onshore winds. The results of this study can help the development of more robust nearshore momentum flux parameterizations. This will ultimately lead to improved weather and climate forecasting in the littoral zone, and more physically realistic short‐ and long‐term coastal resilience strategies.