The Behavior of Bubbles Generated by Surface Wave in Very High Wind Conditions

Air-sea flux serves as an important role in the exchange process of heat and momentum at the boundary layer. Exploring the nature of these processes will provide us with ways to better understand events that are near sea surface. Such events include the energy gaining process of hurricanes and the distribution of oil spill in Gulf of Mexico. Experiments were conducted in the Air-Sea Interaction Saltwater Tank(ASIST) at the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science to study the behavior of air-sea fluxes in high wind conditions. Images of bubbles generated by surface wave were recorded by high speed cameras, while a laser was used to record the elevation of water surface to calculation the wave phase. Processing and analyzing these datasets with algorithm and numerical model provided a way to understand the characteristics of these bubbles, primarily their velocity field and distribution as functions of depth, bubble size and wave phase. Major findings in this experiment will help to understand the behavior and physical nature of small-scale air-sea interaction and can be applied to a larger scale study in the future.