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Spatial Variation of Sea-Spray Fluxes over a Mediterranean Coastal Zone Using a Sea-State Model

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Abstract

We first deal with sea-spray flux estimates for short fetch conditions in coastal Mediterranean areas. To this end, a sea-state dependent model for the whitecap fraction was included in three different formulations for the sea-spray source function. A comparison with the sea-spray fluxes, calculated on the basis of aerosol size distributions measured at the island of Porquerolles located south off the French Riviera, evaluates the predictions of different whitecap dependant flux formulations. Then we deal with the spatial distribution of the whitecap fraction and the sea-spray fluxes in the study area. To achieve this, a whitecap dependant flux formulation was forced by a wave numerical model that was implemented in the study area. Experimental results on wave conditions have been used to adjust the model in the Mediterranean coastal area. Numerical simulations of wave and whitecap coverage have been carried out during typical regional wind events, and they show a nonhomogeneous distribution of the sea-surface production over the northern Mediterranean as a consequence of the spatial variation of the sea state. In particular, we note the occurrence of a narrow band of high sea-surface production following the northern coast and along the east part of the Gulf of Lions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LSEET, UMR 6017-CNRS, Southern University of Toulon-Var, La Garde Cedex, France

    Jacques Piazzola, Philippe Forget, Christine Lafon & Serge Despiau

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  1. Jacques Piazzola
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  2. Philippe Forget
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  3. Christine Lafon
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  4. Serge Despiau
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Correspondence to Jacques Piazzola.

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Piazzola, J., Forget, P., Lafon, C. et al. Spatial Variation of Sea-Spray Fluxes over a Mediterranean Coastal Zone Using a Sea-State Model. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 132, 167–183 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-009-9386-2

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