Abstract
A comprehensive laboratory study has been made on the following typical phenomena at the air-sea interface both for ordinary tap water and for water containing a soluble surfactant (NaC12H25SO4): (1) generation of wind waves; (2) wind shear stress and wind setup; and (3) growth of regular waves by the wind. The addition of the surfactant to the water shows a large suppression of the wind-generated waves, and its effect increases with increasing concentration of the surfactant within the range of our experiment. When the wind waves attenuate partially, the spectral density near the dominant frequency region shows similarity. For the maximum concentration used (2.6 x 10-2%) wind waves are almost completely suppressed up to a wind speed U10 ≅ 15 m/s, where U10 is the wind speed at height z = 10m. For U10>19m/s, wind waves are generated which are similar to those on tap water. A large decrease of the wind shear stress is observed when the wind waves are suppressed almost completely by the surfactant. An empirical relation for the drag coefficient has been obtained for this case, which is slightly different from that by Van Dorn (1953). An empirical relation for the drag coefficient covering a very wide range of wind speed (U10:8–35 m/s) has also been obtained for ordinary tap water. The surface slope has been measured and related to the friction velocity of the wind. It is shown that the same relation holds for tap water and for water containing surfactant, if the friction velocities measured for the respective waters are used in the relation. The measured growth rate of the fundamental frequency component of regular waves on tap water is greater, by a factor of 2, than Miles’ (1959) growth rate, and a little greater than Snyder and colleagues’ (1981) growth rate. The growth rate of the regular waves is greatly reduced by the addition of surfactant. However, the relation between the growth rate and the friction velocity of the wind is little affected by the surfactant, because the friction velocity is diminished by the presence of surfactant.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Barger, W. R., W. G. Garrett, E. Mollo-Christensen, and K. W. Ruggles (1970): Effects of an artificial sea slick upon the atmosphere and the ocean. J. Appl. Meteorol 9, 396–400.
Craik, A. D. D. (1968): Wind-generated waves in contaminated liquid films. J. Fluid Mech. 31, 141–161.
Davies, J. T., and R. W. Vose (1965): On the damping of capillary waves by surface film. Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 286, 218–234.
Deacon, E. L., and E. K. Webb (1962): Small-scale interactions. The Sea, Vol. 1 (M. N. Hill, ed.), Wiley, New York.
Dorrestein, R. (1951): General linearized theory of the effect of surface films on water ripples. Ned. Akad. van Wetenschappen Ser. B 54, 350.
Fitzgerald, L. M. (1963): Wind-induced stresses on water surfaces: A wind tunnel study. Aust. J. Phys. 16, 475–489.
Garratt, J. R. (1977): Review of drag coefficient over oceans and continents. Mon Weather Rev. 105, 915–929.
Garrett, C., and J. Smith (1976): On the interaction between long and short surface waves. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 6, 926–930.
Goodrich, F. C. (1962): On the damping of water waves by monomolecular films. J. Phys. Chem. 66, 1858–1863.
Gottifredi, J. C. and G. J. Jameson (1968): The suppression of wind-generated waves by a surface film. J. Fluid Mech. 32, 609–617.
Hasselmann, K. (1968): Weak-interaction theory of ocean waves. Basic Developments in Fluid Dynamics (M. Holt, ed.). Academic Press, New York, 2, 117.
Hasselmann, K. (1971): On the mass and momentum transfer between short gravity waves and large-scale motions. J. Fluid Mech. 50, 189–205.
Hino, M., S. Kataoka, and D. Kaneko (1969): Experiment of surface film effect on wind-wave generation. Coastal Eng. Jpn. 12, 1–8.
Hühnerfuss, H. W. Alpers, W. L. Johns, P. A. Lange, and K. Richter (1981a): The damping of ocean surface waves by a monomolecular film measured by wave staffs and microwave radars. J. Geophys. Res. 86, 429–438.
Hühnerfuss, H., W. Alpers, P. A. Lange, and W. Walter (1981b): Attenuation of wind waves by artificial surface films of different chemical structure. Geophys. Res. Lett. 8, 1184–1186.
Keulegan, G. H. (1951): Wind tide in small closed channel. J. Res. Natl. Bur. Stand. 46, 358–381.
Lamb, H. (1932): Hydrodynamics, Cambridge University Press, London.
Large, W. G., and S. Pond (1981): Open ocean momentum flux measurements in moderate to strong winds. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 11, 324–336.
Levich, V. G. (1962): Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J.
Lombardini, P. P. (1978): Damping effect of monolayers on surface wave motion in liquid. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 65, 387–389.
Longuet-Higgins, M. S. (1969): A nonlinear mechanism for the generation of sea waves. Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 311, 371–389.
Miles, J. W. (1959): On the generation of surface waves by shear flows. Part 2. J. Fluid Mech. 6, 568–582.
Miles, J. W. (1967): Surface-wave damping in closed basins. Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 297, 459–475.
Mitsuyasu, H. (1966): Interaction between water waves and wind. (1). Rep. Res. Inst. Appl. Mech. Kyushu Univ. 14, 67–88.
Mitsuyasu, H., and T. Honda (1974): The high frequency spectrum of wind-generated waves. J. Oceanogr. Soc. Jpn. 30, 185–198.
Mitsuyasu, H. and T. Honda (1982): Wind-induced growth of water waves. J. Fluid Mech. 123, 425–442.
Mitsuyasu, H. and T. Kusaba (1984): Drag coefficient over water surface under the action of strong wind. Nat. Disaster Sci., 6, 43–50.
Phillips, O. M. (1963): On the attenuation of long gravity waves by short breaking waves. J. Fluid Mech. 16, 321–332.
Phillips, O. M., and M. L. Banner (1974): Wave breaking in the presence of wind drift and swell. J. Fluid Mech. 66, 625–640.
Scott, J. C. (1972): The influence of surface-active contamination on the interaction of wind waves. J. Fluid Mech. 56, 591–606.
Mitsuyasu, H. and T. Honda (1982): Wind-induced growth of water waves. J. Fluid Mech. 123, 425–442.
Smith, F. L P., and A. D. D. Craik (1971): Wind-generated waves in thin hquid films with soluble contaminant. J. Fluid Mech. 45, 527–544.
Snyder, R. L., F. W. Dobson, J. A. Elliott, and R. B. Long (1981): Array measurements of atmospheric pressure fluctuations above surface gravity waves. J. Fluid Mech. 102, 1–59.
Valenzuela, G. R., and J. W. Wright (1976): The growth of waves by modulated wind stress. J. Geophys. Res. 81, 5795–5796.
Van Dorn, W. G. (1953): Wind stress on an artificial pond. J. Mar. Res. 12, 249–276.
Wu, J. (1969): Wind stress and surface roughness at air-sea interface. J. Geophys. Res. 74, 444–455.
Wu, J. (1980): Wind-stress coefficients over sea surface near neutral conditions—A revisit. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 10, 727–740.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mitsuyasu, H., Honda, T. (1986). The Effects of Surfactant on Certain Air—Sea Interaction Phenomena. In: Phillips, O.M., Hasselmann, K. (eds) Wave Dynamics and Radio Probing of the Ocean Surface. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8980-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8980-4_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-8982-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-8980-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive