Secretary of the Navy Professor of Oceanography

The principal research effort has been towards an understanding the high-frequency tail of the surface gravity wave spectrum, lengths of 2 cm to 60 cm. These are principally responsible for wind drag on water. The analysis was based on a unique data set from geophones and hydrophones at 5 1/2 km dep...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Munk, Walter H
Other Authors: SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY LA JOLLA CA
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA594660
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA594660
Description
Summary:The principal research effort has been towards an understanding the high-frequency tail of the surface gravity wave spectrum, lengths of 2 cm to 60 cm. These are principally responsible for wind drag on water. The analysis was based on a unique data set from geophones and hydrophones at 5 1/2 km depth midway between California and Hawaii. The measured spectral intensity around 10 Hz gives a more accurate measure of local winds than the standard satellite scatterometry. A spectral gap at the 30 Hz gravity to capillary transition offers new opportunities for spectral monitoring. We are making progress towards understanding the generation processes. A continuing effort towards the acoustic monitoring of ocean processes has been directed at the polar ocean cavities sandwiched between the floating ice sheet and the sea floor. We are exploring a possible tomography experiment in the Ross Sea with the goal of better predicting polar ice melting processes and the associated global rise in sea level.