Autonomous spar-buoy measurements of bubble populations under breaking waves in the Sea of the Hebrides

Coles, D.G.H. and Leighton, T.G. (2007) Autonomous spar-buoy measurements of bubble populations under breaking waves in the Sea of the Hebrides. Papadakis, J.S. and Bjorno, L. (eds.) In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Underwater Acoustic Measurements, Technologies and Results. Institute of Sound and Vibration Research. pp. 543-548 .

Abstract

An understanding of the evolution of bubble clouds under breaking waves in rough at-sea conditions is important for assessing the role of such wave-generated activity on climatologically important processes. These processes include the fluxes between atmosphere and ocean of mass, heat and momentum. This paper describes the development and testing of sensors for an experiment which forms the first stage in a project to combine at-sea measurements and modelling to elucidate bubble cloud evolution and its role in the above fluxes. It was undertaken as a component of DOGEE (Deep Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment), which in turn is part of UK SOLAS (Surface- Ocean / Lower-Atmosphere Study) funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council. Sensors are mounted along the length of an 11 m autonomous spar buoy, which was deployed off RRS Discovery. The upper part of the buoy, which protruded above the ocean surface, and was equipped with downward-looking video which monitored wave activity, a feature also monitored using capacitive wave wires. Below the surface, bubble populations and size distributions were measured using acoustic sensors. The data are to be compared with a model for the evolution of wave-generated bubble clouds to estimate gas transport and flux.

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Contributors

Author: T.G. Leighton

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