Turbulence and wave breaking effects on air-water gas exchange

Evelyn J. Boettcher, Jay Fineberg, Daniel P. Lathrop

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present an experimental characterization of the effects of turbulence and breaking gravity waves on air-water gas exchange in standing waves. We identify two regimes that govern aeration rates: turbulent transport when no wave breaking occurs and bubble dominated transport when wave breaking occurs. In both regimes, we correlate the qualitative changes in the aeration rate with corresponding changes in the wave dynamics. In the latter regime, the strongly enhanced aeration rate is correlated with measured acoustic emissions, indicating that bubble creation and dynamics dominate air-water exchange.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2030-2033
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume85
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - 2000

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Turbulence and wave breaking effects on air-water gas exchange'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this