Comment on Enhanced TKE Dissipation under Breaking Waves

Abstract

It is noted that the results of recent experiments on the enhancement of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation below surface waves can be stated as follows. TKE dissipation is enhanced by a factor $15 H_{ws}/z$ at depths $0.5 H_{ws} < z < 20 H_{ws}$ with respect to the wall-layer result $\epsilon = u_{*w}^3/\kappa z$, where $u_{*w}$ is the friction velocity in water and $H_{ws}$ is the significant wind-sea wave height. For open ocean conditions, this reduces in most cases to an enhancement factor $10^6 u_{*w}^2/gz \approx U_{10}^2/gz$.