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Oblique wind waves generated by the instability of wind blowing over water

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

L. C. Morland
L. C. Morland
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA
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Abstract

The growth rates of gravity waves are computed from linear, inviscid stability theory for wind velocity profiles that are representative of the mean flow in a turbulent boundary layer. The energy transfer to the waves is largely concentrated in an angle (to the wind) interval that broadens with increasing wind speed and narrows with increasing wavelength. At sufficiently high wind speeds and sufficiently short wavelengths, the waves of maximum growth rate propagate at an oblique angle to the wind. The connection with bimodal directional distributions of observed spectra is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 316 , 10 June 1996 , pp. 163 - 172
Copyright
© 1996 Cambridge University Press

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