Section: New Results

Effect of wind stress forcing on ocean dynamics at Air-Sea Interface

Participant: H. Yahia.

At first order, oceanic currents are generated by the balance of Coriolis and pressure gradient (geostrophic current) and the balance of Coriolis and the frictional force dominated by wind stress in the surface ocean (Ekman current). We aim at studying the difference in term of turbulent hydrodynamics carried by the wind forcing at the air-sea interface. We explore the statistical properties of singularity spectra computed from velocity norms and vorticity data, notably in relation with kurtosis information to underline differences in the turbulent regimes associated with both kinds of velocity fields. This study is conducted over 1 year of daily data and demonstrates the differences in terms of turbulent property of wind forcing.

Publication: [24].