Statistical properties of the atmospheric turbulent boundary layer over steep surface waves

A new method of digital optical anemometry (Particle Image Velocimetry, PIV) of turbulent flows is suggested and implemented in the laboratory; it is based on the use of continuous laser radiation and high-speed video photography, providing continuous statistical ensembles of flow velocity fields. Application of the method to the study of wind field over waves has allowed us to perform, for the first time, direct measurements of velocity fields, averaged over turbulent pulsations induced by waves in the air flow. The experiments demonstrated that the velocity fields, averaged over the turbulent pulsations, are nonseparated even in the case of steep and breaking waves, when separation of the flow from the wave crests in the instantaneous fields is observed. Based on comparison with the experimental data, it is shown that the average wind fields over waves are described well quantitatively in the framework of semiempirical closure models of turbulence.