A Laboratory Study of Sea Spray from Breaking Waves: Part I - Profiles of Droplet Microphysical Properties

In this paper we report on work in the laboratory to develop an accurate sea spray source function parameterization through coincident observations of sea spray along with wave breaking, turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, and turbulent fluxes. The laboratory effort is the second rendition of the Spray Production and Dynamics Experiment (SPANDEX-II), done in January and February of 2010. SPANDEX-II was conducted at the Wind Tunnel Facility of the Water Research Laboratory in Manly Vale (NSW). SPANDEX-II featured several observational advances compared to SPANDEX-I: direct measurements of ocean-side turbulence profiles and thermal imaging of individual spray drops. Spray drops were measured with an optical array size spectrometer. Properties of the sea spray profiles as a function of forcing will be discussed. We compare these results to several profile parameterizations available in the literature.