Recurring event for fall 2025 LDEO Ocean and Climate Physics weekly seminar.
Directional Phase-Resolved Broadband Observations of Breaking Waves
with Dr. Leonel Romero, Assistant Professor at the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut.
Abstract: Surface wave breaking modulates air–sea fluxes of energy, momentum, heat, and gases. While much of our understanding of breaking waves in the open ocean comes from field observations, few studies have examined their directionality, which is a critical factor for the directional energy balance and the evolution of the wave energy spectrum. In this talk, I will present the results from an ongoing NSF-funded project investigating the directional characteristics of the wave field, including breaking, using 3D stereo reconstruction of the ocean surface from visible and infrared (IR) imagery. Our results show that the directionality of wave breaking is systematically narrower than the energy spectrum and that the predominant breaking direction can vary substantially across scales in conditions of strongly misaligned winds and dominant waves. This agrees with a principal component analysis of the computed orbital velocities across scales. The results are discussed in the context of long-wave short-wave modulation, improving wave-breaking parameterizations, and advancing wave prediction models.
