Current generation by deep-water breaking waves

Nicholas Pizzo, University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, CA, United States, Luc Deike, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States and Wallace Kendall Melville, University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States
Abstract:
Using vortex dynamics, we examine the partitioning of the energy transferred to the water column by deep-water wave breaking, between the turbulent and mean flow. It is found that more than 95% of the energy lost by the wave field is dissipated in the first four wave periods after the breaking event. The remaining energy is in the coherent vortex generated by breaking. A scaling argument, based on the wave breaking-induced vortex generation problem considered by Pizzo and Melville (2013), implies that the energy left in the breaking generated current scales as (hk)1/2 , where (hk) is the local slope at breaking. This model is examined using direct numerical simulations of the Navier-Stokes equations, as well as limited available laboratory data, and good agreement is found.
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