Breaking waves in deep water: measurements and modeling of energy dissipation

Abstract

In the presence of strong winds, ocean surface waves dissipate significant amounts of energy by breaking. Here, breaking rates and wave-following turbulent dissipation rate measurements are compared with numerical WAVEWATCH III estimates of bulk energy dissipation rate. At high winds, the measurements suggest that turbulent dissipation becomes saturated; however, the modeled bulk dissipation continues to increase as a cubic function of wind speed. Similarly, the mean square slope (i.e., the steepness) of the measured waves becomes saturated, while the modeled mean squared slope grows linearly with wind speed. Only a weak relation is observed between breaker fraction and wind speed, possibly because these metrics do not capture the scale (e.g., crest length) of the breakers. Finally, the model skill for basic parameters such as significant wave height is shown to be sensitive to the dissipation rate, indicating that the model skill may be compromised under energetic conditions.