Atmospheric Sea Spray Modeling in the North-East Atlantic Ocean using Tunnel-Derived Generation Functions and the SUMOS Cruise Data set
This study contributes to the communal effort to improve understanding of sea spray generation and transport. For the first time, laboratory-derived sea spray generation functions (SSGFs) are parameterized in the Meso-NH mesoscale atmospheric model and are field tested. Formulated from the MATE19 la...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2023
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-04203992 https://hal.science/hal-04203992/document https://hal.science/hal-04203992/file/JGR%20Atmospheres%20-%202023%20-%20Bruch.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD038330 |
Summary: | This study contributes to the communal effort to improve understanding of sea spray generation and transport. For the first time, laboratory-derived sea spray generation functions (SSGFs) are parameterized in the Meso-NH mesoscale atmospheric model and are field tested. Formulated from the MATE19 laboratory experiments (Bruch et al., 2021, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-021-00636-y) the two SSGFs are driven by the upwind component of the wave-slope variance (herein B21A), or both and the wind friction velocity cubed (herein B21B). In this first attempt to incorporate the SSGFs in Meso-NH, the simulations are run without a wave model, and the wave-wind SSGFs are assumed wind-dependent. Model evaluation is achieved with a new set of sea spray and meteorological measurements acquired over the 0.1–22.75 μm radius range and U10 1–20 m s−1 wind speeds onboard R/V Atalante during the 25 day SUMOS field campaign in the Bay of Biscay. The B21B SSGF offers particularly good sensitivity to a wide range of environmental conditions over the size range, with an average overestimation by a factor 1.5 compared with measurements, well below the deviations reported elsewhere. B21A also performs well for larger droplets at wind speeds above 15 m s−1. Associated with airflow separation and wave breaking, wave-slope variance allows to represent multiple wave scales and to scale sea spray generation in the laboratory and the field. Using Meso-NH simulations we find that sea spray may be transported inland and to altitudes well above the marine atmospheric boundary layer.Key PointsWith comparable wave-slope variance behavior in laboratory and field conditions we use laboratory-derived sea spray generation functions in the fieldParameterized with laboratory generation functions and validated using field measurements, Meso-NH yields accurate sea spray concentrationsBy populating the atmosphere beyond 2.5 km altitude and 100 km inland, sea spray can intervene in a range of weather and cimate processesPlain Language SummaryThe effects of ... |
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