Impulse exchange at the surface of the ocean and the fractal dimension of drifter trajectories.

Summers, David

Abstract

An impulse-based model is developed to represent a coupling between turbulent flow in the atmosphere and turbulent flow in the ocean. In particular, it is argued that the atmosphere flowing horizontally over the ocean surface generates a velocity fluctuation field in the latter's near-surface flow. The mechanism for this can be understood kinematically in terms of an exchange of tangentially-oriented fluid impulse at the air-sea interface. We represent this exchange numerically through the creation of Lagrangian elements of impulse density. An indication of the efficacy of such a model would lie in its ability to predict the observed fractal dimension of lateral trajectories of submerged floats set adrift in the ocean. To this end, we examine the geometry of lateral tracer-paths determined from the present model.

Citation

Summers, D. (2002). Impulse exchange at the surface of the ocean and the fractal dimension of drifter trajectories. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 9, 11-23. https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-9-11-2002

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2002
• Deposit Date: May 16, 2008
• Print ISSN: 1023-5809
• Electronic ISSN: 1607-7946
• Publisher: European Geosciences Union
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Pages: 11-23
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-9-11-2002
• Keywords: Atmospheric turbulence; Oceanic turbulence; Interaction models; Fluid impulse; Air-sea interface; Fractal movement paths; Prediction; Lagrangian elements; Impulse density; Floater movement models
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/1862
• Publisher URL: http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/9/11/2002/npg-9-11-2002.html