Observations of Wave‐Breaking Direction and Energy Spread
Abstract Surface waves are important for remote sensing, air–sea exchange, and underwater acoustics. The short gravity wave spectrum is azimuthally broad and bimodal. However, widely used wave models fail to reproduce the degree of observed spreading and azimuthal bimodality. Recent studies show tha...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL116452 |
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| author | Bernard Akaawase Leonel Romero Alvise Benetazzo |
| author_facet | Bernard Akaawase Leonel Romero Alvise Benetazzo |
| author_sort | Bernard Akaawase |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Surface waves are important for remote sensing, air–sea exchange, and underwater acoustics. The short gravity wave spectrum is azimuthally broad and bimodal. However, widely used wave models fail to reproduce the degree of observed spreading and azimuthal bimodality. Recent studies show that an azimuthally narrow spectral breaking dissipation due to long‐wave short‐wave modulation significantly improves model performance, highlighting the importance of better understanding the directionality of breaking kinematics. We utilized visible stereo imagery to investigate the directional wave‐breaking kinematics relative to the energy spectrum under aligned and misaligned winds and dominant waves. The results show that the statistical distribution of wave‐breaking kinematics closely aligns with the direction of the dominant waves and is azimuthally unimodal and narrower than the bimodal energy spectrum. These findings confirm the importance of exploring the directionality of breaking to improve our understanding of the spectral energy balance and spectral wave models within the short‐gravity range. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2542eb1e48ef41a68bc155f2a29964b5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-2542eb1e48ef41a68bc155f2a29964b52025-08-20T03:58:44ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072025-07-015214n/an/a10.1029/2025GL116452Observations of Wave‐Breaking Direction and Energy SpreadBernard Akaawase0Leonel Romero1Alvise Benetazzo2Department of Marine Sciences University of Connecticut Groton CT USADepartment of Marine Sciences University of Connecticut Groton CT USAConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Istituto di Scienze Marine (ISMAR) Venice ItalyAbstract Surface waves are important for remote sensing, air–sea exchange, and underwater acoustics. The short gravity wave spectrum is azimuthally broad and bimodal. However, widely used wave models fail to reproduce the degree of observed spreading and azimuthal bimodality. Recent studies show that an azimuthally narrow spectral breaking dissipation due to long‐wave short‐wave modulation significantly improves model performance, highlighting the importance of better understanding the directionality of breaking kinematics. We utilized visible stereo imagery to investigate the directional wave‐breaking kinematics relative to the energy spectrum under aligned and misaligned winds and dominant waves. The results show that the statistical distribution of wave‐breaking kinematics closely aligns with the direction of the dominant waves and is azimuthally unimodal and narrower than the bimodal energy spectrum. These findings confirm the importance of exploring the directionality of breaking to improve our understanding of the spectral energy balance and spectral wave models within the short‐gravity range.https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL116452wave breakingenergy dissipationwave spectrumobservationsocean surface wavesdirectional spreading |
| spellingShingle | Bernard Akaawase Leonel Romero Alvise Benetazzo Observations of Wave‐Breaking Direction and Energy Spread Geophysical Research Letters wave breaking energy dissipation wave spectrum observations ocean surface waves directional spreading |
| title | Observations of Wave‐Breaking Direction and Energy Spread |
| title_full | Observations of Wave‐Breaking Direction and Energy Spread |
| title_fullStr | Observations of Wave‐Breaking Direction and Energy Spread |
| title_full_unstemmed | Observations of Wave‐Breaking Direction and Energy Spread |
| title_short | Observations of Wave‐Breaking Direction and Energy Spread |
| title_sort | observations of wave breaking direction and energy spread |
| topic | wave breaking energy dissipation wave spectrum observations ocean surface waves directional spreading |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL116452 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bernardakaawase observationsofwavebreakingdirectionandenergyspread AT leonelromero observationsofwavebreakingdirectionandenergyspread AT alvisebenetazzo observationsofwavebreakingdirectionandenergyspread |