Bulk Parameterization of Air-Sea Exchanges of Heat and Water Vapor Including the Molecular Constraints at the Interface

Abstract

A model is developed for the marine atmospheric surface layer including the interfacial sublayers on both sides of the air-sea interface where molecular constraints on transports are important. Flux-profile relations which are based on the postulation of intermittent renewal of the surface fluid aye matched to the logarithmic profiles and compared with both field and laboratory measurements. These relations enable numerical determination of air-sea exchanges of momentum, heat and water vapor (or bulk transfer coefficients) employing the bulk parameters of mean wind speed, temperature and humidity at a certain height in the atmospheric surface layer, and the water temperature. With increasing wind speed, the flow goes from smooth to rough and the bulk transfer coefficient for momentum also increases. The increase in roughness is associated with increasing wave height which in the present model results in sheltering at the wave troughs. Due to the decrease in turbulent transports, the transfer coefficients of heat and water vapor decrease slightly with wind speed after the wind speed exceeds a certain value. The bulk transfer coefficients are also found to decrease with increasing stability. If the “bucket temperature” which typically gives the water temperature a few centimeters below the surface is used, rather than the interfacial temperature, erroneous results may be obtained when the air-sea temperature difference is small. By including the effects of stability and interfacial conditions in bulk parameterization, the model provides a way to account for physical conditions which are known to affect air-sea exchanges.