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Sea-Spray-Generation Dependence on Wind and Wave Combinations: A Laboratory Study

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Abstract

We investigate the effects of wind–wave interactions on the surface sea-spray-generation flux. To this end, the Marine Aerosol Tunnel Experiment (MATE2019) was conducted at the Pytheas Institute large wave–wind facility in Luminy (Marseille, France) over the period June–July 2019. A unique range of air–sea boundary conditions was generated by configuring the laboratory with four types of wave forcing and five wind speeds spanning 8–20 m s\(^{-1}\). Young and developed waves were included, with wave ages between 1.3 and 9.5 (defined in terms of phase speed and friction velocity). Vertical sea-spray-concentration profiles measured over the 0.1–47.5 \(\upmu \)m radius range and a flux–profile method allowed estimation of the sea-spray-generation flux. Results show that the flux increases for increased wind-induced wave breaking, and is highest for steep and heavily-breaking waves. Scaling analysis shows that the sea-spray generation is best correlated with the wave-slope variance for larger droplets (20 \(\upmu \)m and above, assumed predominantly spume droplets generated by surface tearing). For smaller droplets (7–20 \(\upmu \)m, presumed predominantly jet droplets generated by bubble bursting), the highest correlation is found with a non-dimensional number combining the wave-slope variance with the friction velocity cubed. This is reflected in the formulation of two wave-state-dependent sea-spray-generation functions, each valid for wind speeds 12–20 m s\(^{-1}\) and droplet radii 3–35 \(\upmu \)m, thereby covering jet and spume droplet production.

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Acknowledgements

A special thanks to engineer Rémi Chemin (University of Toulon) for his thoughts and contribution during the laboratory experiment. We are grateful for the sponsorship by the Agence Innovation Défense (AID-DGA) under contract 2018-60-0038 and the Region SUD contract 2018-06085. This work also benefitted from the MATRAC research effort sponsored by ANR-ASTRID under contract ANR-18-ASTR-0002.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO-UMR 7294), Université de Toulon, Toulon, France

    William Bruch, Jacques Piazzola & Gilles Tedeschi

  2. IRPHE, CNRS, ECM, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

    Hubert Branger

  3. TNO, The Hague, Netherlands

    Alexander M. J. van Eijk

  4. LHEEA (UMR 6598), École Centrale de Nantes, Nantes, France

    Alexander M. J. van Eijk

  5. CNRS, OSU-Pytheas, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

    Christopher Luneau

  6. Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO-UMR 7294), Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France

    Denis Bourras

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  1. William Bruch
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  2. Jacques Piazzola
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  4. Alexander M. J. van Eijk
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Bruch, W., Piazzola, J., Branger, H. et al. Sea-Spray-Generation Dependence on Wind and Wave Combinations: A Laboratory Study. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 180, 477–505 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-021-00636-y

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