Air-Sea Interaction: Laws and Mechanisms

by G. T. Csanady , Illustrated by Mary Gibson

• ISBN13: 9780521796804
• ISBN10: 0521796806
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Air-Sea Interaction: Laws and Mechanisms provides a comprehensive account of how the atmosphere and the ocean interact to control the global climate, what physical laws govern this interaction, and its prominent mechanisms. In recent years air-sea interaction has emerged as a subject in its own right, encompassing small-scale and large-scale processes in both air and sea. By developing its subject from basic physical (thermodynamic) principles, the book is broadly accessible to a wide audience. It is mainly directed towards graduate students and research scientists in meteorology, oceanography, and environmental engineering. The book will be of value on entry level courses in meteorology and oceanography, and also to the broader physics community interested in the treatment of transfer laws, and thermodynamics of the atmosphere and ocean.

Table of Contents

The Transfer Laws of the Air-Sea Interface	1	(50)
Introduction	1	(2)
Flux and Resistance	3	(4)
Momentum Transfer in Laminar Flow	4	(3)
Turbulent Flow Over the Sea	7	(6)
Turbulence, Eddies and Their Statistics	7	(2)
The Air-side Surface Layer	9	(2)
Properties of the Windsea	11	(2)
Flux and Force in Air-Sea Momentum Transfer	13	(8)
Charnock's Law	14	(1)
Sea Surface Roughness	14	(1)
Energy Dissipation	15	(2)
Buoyancy and Turbulence	17	(4)
The Evidence on Momentum Transfer	21	(7)
Methods and Problems of Observation	21	(1)
The Verdict of the Evidence	22	(3)
Other Influences	25	(3)
Sensible and Latent Heat Transfer	28	(16)
Transfer of ``Sensible'' Heat by Conduction	29	(2)
Transfer of Water Substance by Diffusion	31	(1)
Heat and Vapor Transfer in Turbulent Flow	32	(3)
Buoyancy Flux Correction	35	(1)
Observed Heat and Vapor Transfer Laws	36	(4)
Matrix of Transfer Laws	40	(1)
Entropy Production	41	(3)
Air-Sea Gas Transfer	44	(7)
Gas Transfer in Turbulent Flow	45	(1)
Methods and Problems of Observation	46	(2)
The Evidence on Gas Transfer	48	(3)
Wind Waves and the Mechanisms of Air-Sea Transfer	51	(46)
The Origin of Wind Waves	51	(8)
Instability Theory	54	(2)
Properties of Instability Waves	56	(3)
The Wind Wave Phenomenon	59	(22)
Wave Measures	62	(4)
Wave Growth	66	(5)
The Tail of the Characteristic Wave	71	(3)
Short Wind Waves	74	(2)
Laboratory Studies of Short Waves	76	(5)
The Breaking of Waves	81	(5)
Momentum Transfer in a Breaking Wave	82	(4)
Mechanisms of Scalar Property Transfer	86	(6)
Water-side Resistance	87	(3)
Air-side Resistance	90	(2)
Pathways of Air-Sea Momentum Transfer	92	(5)
Mixed Layers in Contact	97	(49)
Mixed Layers, Thermoclines, and Hot Towers	97	(3)
Mixed Layer Turbulence	100	(4)
Laws of Entrainment	104	(11)
Entrainment in a Mixed Layer Heated from Below	105	(3)
Mixed Layer Cooled from Above	108	(2)
Shear and Breaker Induced Entrainment	110	(5)
A Tour of Mixed Layers	115	(17)
The Atmospheric Mixed Layer Under the Trade Inversion	116	(4)
Stratocumulus-topped Mixed Layers	120	(4)
Oceanic Mixed Layers	124	(5)
Equatorial Upwelling	129	(3)
Mixed Layer Interplay	132	(14)
Mixed Layer Budgets	133	(3)
Atmospheric Temperature and Humidity Budgets	136	(1)
Oceanic Temperature Budget	136	(1)
Combined Budgets	137	(3)
Bunker's Air-Sea Interaction Cycles	140	(6)
Hot Towers	146	(41)
Thermodynamics of Atmospheric Hot Towers	147	(11)
The Drying-out Process in Hot Towers	148	(4)
The Thermodynamic Cycle of the Overturning Circulation	152	(6)
Ascent of Moist Air in Hot Towers	158	(9)
Hot Tower Clusters	160	(4)
Squall Lines	164	(3)
Hurricanes	167	(11)
Entropy Sources in Hurricanes	172	(3)
Thermodynamic Cycle of Hurricanes	175	(3)
Oceanic Deep Convection	178	(9)
Observations of Oceanic Deep Convection	181	(6)
The Ocean's Warm WaterSphere	187	(38)
Oceanic Heat Gain and Loss	189	(8)
Mechanisms of Heat Gain	194	(3)
Oceanic Heat Transports	197	(7)
Direct Estimates of Heat Transports	198	(1)
Syntheses of Meteorological Data	199	(5)
Warm to Cold Water Conversion in the North Atlantic	204	(4)
Cold to Warm Water Conversion	205	(3)
The Ocean's Overturning Circulation	208	(8)
The Role of the Tropical Atlantic	211	(2)
Heat Export from the Equatorial Atlantic	213	(3)
What Drives the Overturning Circulation?	216	(9)
Cape Produced by Deep Convection	217	(2)
Density Flux and Pycnostads in the North Atlantic	219	(6)
References	225	(12)
Index	237