Data · dataset · 2026
Langmuir Turbulence under Hurricane Gustav (2008)
Listed in National Center for Atmospheric Research
Extreme winds and complex wave fields drive upper-ocean turbulence in tropical cyclone conditions.
Description
Motivated by Lagrangian float observations of bulk vertical velocity variance (VVV) under Hurricane Gustav (2008), upper-ocean turbulence is investigated based on large-eddy simulation (LES) of the wave-averaged Navier--Stokes equations. To realistically capture wind- and wave-driven Langmuir turbulence (LT), the LES model imposes the Stokes drift vector from spectral wave simulations; both the LES and wave model are forced by the NOAA Hurricane Research Division (HRD) surface wind analysis product.
Results strongly suggest that without LT effects simulated VVV underestimates the observed VVV. LT increases the VVV, indicating that it plays a significant role in upper-ocean turbulence dynamics. Consistent with observations, the LES predicts a suppression of VVV near the hurricane eye due to wind-wave misalignment.
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However, this decrease is weaker and of shorter duration than that observed, potentially due to large-scale horizontal advection not present in the LES. Both observations and simulations are consistent with a highly variable upper ocean turbulence field beneath tropical cyclone cores. Bulk VVV, a TKE budget analysis, and anisotropy coefficient (ratio of horizontal to vertical velocity variances) profiles all indicate that LT is suppressed to levels closer to that of shear turbulence (ST) due to misaligned wind and wave fields.
VVV approximately scales with the directional surface layer Langmuir number. Such a scaling provides guidance for the development of an upper-ocean boundary layer parameterization that explicitly depends on sea state.
Links
Get the data
- Publisher page n2t.org/ark:/85065/d78g8mwk ↗
documentation · download · from data ucar edu
Where it is published
- data.ucar.edu /dataset/langmuir-turbulence-under-hurricane-gustav-2008 ↗
National Center for Atmospheric Research dataset page
landing page · from data ucar edu
Catalogue records · 1
- CKAN API data.ucar.edu/api/3/action/package_show?id=9b939d35-c95b-49de-8422-b372f0b08… ↗
metadata API · from data ucar edu
Topics
- From keywords
- Earth & Environmental Science · Ocean & Atmospheric Science
- Inferred from text
- Simulation 75%
Provenance · 1 source records, 8 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Center for Atmospheric Research | 9b939d35-c95b-49de-8422-b372f0b089e3 | 11 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| concepts[field].local:field:earth-environmental | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:ocean-atmospheric | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[method].local:method:simulation | enrichment · data ucar edu | keyword-concept-rules@1.0.0 | title+description (75%) |
| created_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /notes |
| publication_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /title |
| updated_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 |