2023 Volume 37 Issue 3 Pages 300-307
Breaking waves entrains huge amounts of air bubbles into bulk seawater, which is involved in turbulence produced in splash-up breaking processes. Buoyant bubbles arriving wave surfaces aggregate to form clusters behind the wave front (so-called whitecap). While a series of the bubble dynamics are believed to be relevant to air-sea momentum transfers and gas exchanges, microscopic bubble behaviors on whitecap water surface in wave breaking turbulence have not been understood. This article introduces previous research progress on mechanical interactions between bubble and turbulence in bulk water under breaking waves, interactions of rising bubble with water surface in addition to interactions among bubbles floating on surface resulting in formation of whitecap water.
