2024 Volume 80 Issue 17 Article ID: 24-17010
Understanding the transport phenomena across the air-sea interface during whitecaps, characterized by high concentrations of bubbles and droplets, is crucial for improving the accuracy of storm wave estimation. In this study, the Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) technique was employed near a bubble-bursting water surface, serving as a model for whitecaps. This allowed visualization and measurement of the violently disturbed temperature field during bubble bursting. The heat transfer coefficient above the bursting water surface was found to increase by a factor of 1.43 compared to that above a calm water surface. When the water temperature is sufficiently higher than the air temperature, the convection of air above the water surface is intensified by jets released from heated bubbles and vertical air mixing is enhanced by the movement of numerous droplets.
