Study of interrelationship between atmospheric turbulence with oceanic wave motions

Abstract

The exchange of momentum between the wind and the ocean surface is the primary source of various oceanic phenomena, both in large (e.g., El Niño) and small-scales (e.g., generation of wind waves, storm surge and coastal upwellings). Based on the existing literature on wind-wave interaction, it can be suggested that a unique missing link exists between the standard atmospheric and oceanic-circulation models. This is due to the inherent difficulty in the theoretical formulation of the models describing the phenomena and experimental measurement of the contributing factors in the near ocean surface wind measurement and surface pattern dynamics. An experimental site was acquired at the under-construction New Doha International Airport in Qatar to help throw light on the aforementioned difficulty. The site is in an area with light aircraft traffic and is surrounded by a 6m deep ocean and almost flat terrain in all directions. Wind velocity measured at more than 7m/s comes over the ocean surface around morning time. An array of three sonic anemometers, thermocouples, net radiometer, two digital cameras and a complete weather station are to be installed on the site. The sonic anemometers are intended to measure the wind velocity and direction at different elevations from the ocean surface. The digital cameras will work synchronously with the anemometers to acquire images of the ocean surface. A variation wave acquisition stereo system will be used to reconstruct the 3D elevation of the ocean wave based on the principle of stereo reconstruction. At the end, the plausible link between the atmospheric and oceanic phenomenon will be explored experimentally which will lead to a better prediction model.