Abstract
Breaking waves are an important process at the air-sea interface: they limit the growth of waves, transfer momentum between the atmosphere and ocean, generate marine aerosols, change ocean albedo, and enhance the transport of greenhouse gases across the air-sea interface. However, they are a challenging phenomenon to study in the field and much is yet to be learnt about the transient, two phase flow inside whitecaps. Acoustical oceanography has much to offer as a remote sensing tool for studying wave breaking, and has been exploited to great effect by David Farmer and his colleagues over the past 3 decades. I will cover some of the highlights of this fascinating subject, including recent developments to study air entrainment and turbulence in breaking waves using radiated wave noise. [Work supported by ONR,Ocean Acoustics Division, and NSF.]
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