1. Improved description of air-sea momentum fluxes and upper ocean currents
Kai Christensen (met.no), Gøran Brostrøm (met.no), Jan Erik Weber (UiO)
OPNet

2. Background Current OGCMs do not include ocean surface wave effects
The waves alter the air-sea fluxes of momentum and turbulent kinetic energy
The wave-induced currents are frequently of the same magnitude as the OGCM currents near the surface
Several theoretical models for wave-mean flow interactions exist, some are more theoretical than others
Numerical wave prediction models perform very well (partly because the waves are strongly correlated with the wind)
We propose to use a numerical wave prediction model for handling all air-sea momentum and energy fluxes
We, that is, met.no + IMR + UiO

3. Trajectories, surface - 70°13'N 12°57'E, 2009-05-19 + 60h forecast

4. Stokes drift?

5. QEQL coordinates

6. Kinematics: wave momentum/wave groupscg

7. ttot tc td + cg tc
tvws +
LOCAL FORCING vs
ADVECTION BY GROUP
tOGCM

8. Momentum equation + BC Eulerian mean momentum
mean wave momentum (one wave component)

9. Summary Let wave model handle air-sea fluxes of momentum and energy
OGCM momentum budget: additional body forces and changed surface stress
OGCM energy budget: modified air-sea flux of turbulent kinetic energy
Why? Improved description of upper ocean dynamics, relevant for e.g. oil spill drift models, bio-models (fish eggs/larvae, algae)