Planetary boundary layer (PBL) flows are known to exhibit fundamental differences depending on the relative combination of wind shear and buoyancy forces. These differences are not unexpected in that shear instabilities occur locally, while buoyancy force sets up vigorous thermals, which result in nonlocal transport of heat and momentum. At the same time, these two forces can act together to modify the flow field. In this study, four large-eddy simulations (LESs) spanning the shear and buoyancy flow regimes were generated; two correspond to the extreme cases of shear and buoyancy-driven PBLs, while the other two represent intermediate PBLs where both forces are important. The extreme cases are used to highlight and quantify the basic differences between shear and convective PBLs in 1) flow structures, 2) overall statistics, and 3) turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget distributions. Results from the two intermediate LES cases are used to develop and verify a velocity scaling and a TKE budget mode... Abstract Planetary boundary layer (PBL) flows are known to exhibit fundamental differences depending on the relative combination of wind shear and buoyancy forces. These differences are not unexpected in that shear instabilities occur locally, while buoyancy force sets up vigorous thermals, which result in nonlocal transport of heat and momentum. At the same time, these two forces can act together to modify the flow field. In this study, four large-eddy simulations (LESs) spanning the shear and buoyancy flow regimes were generated; two correspond to the extreme cases of shear and buoyancy-driven PBLs, while the other two represent intermediate PBLs where both forces are important. The extreme cases are used to highlight and quantify the basic differences between shear and convective PBLs in 1) flow structures, 2) overall statistics, and 3) turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget distributions. Results from the two intermediate LES cases are used to develop and verify a velocity scaling and a TKE budget mode...

Solutions are analysed from large-eddy simulations of the phase-averaged equations for oceanic currents in the surface planetary boundary layer (PBL), where the averaging is over high-frequency surface gravity waves. These equations have additional terms proportional to the Lagrangian Stokes drift of the waves, including vortex and Coriolis forces and tracer advection. For the wind-driven PBL, the turbulent Langmuir number, La_tur = (U∗/U_s)^1/2, measures the relative influences of directly wind-driven shear (with friction velocity U∗) and the Stokes drift U_s. We focus on equilibrium solutions with steady, aligned wind and waves and a realistic La_tur = 0.3. The mean current has an Eulerian volume transport to the right of the wind and against the Stokes drift. The turbulent vertical fluxes of momentum and tracers are enhanced by the presence of the Stokes drift, as are the turbulent kinetic energy and its dissipation and the skewness of vertical velocity. The dominant coherent structure in the turbulence is a Langmuir cell, which has its strongest vorticity aligned longitudinally (with the wind and waves) and intensified near the surface on the scale of the Stokes drift profile. Associated with this are down-wind surface convergence zones connected to interior circulations whose horizontal divergence axis is rotated about 45° to the right of the wind. The horizontal scale of the Langmuir cells expands with depth, and there are also intense motions on a scale finer than the dominant cells very near the surface. In a turbulent PBL, Langmuir cells have irregular patterns with finite correlation scales in space and time, and they undergo occasional mergers in the vicinity of Y-junctions between convergence zones.

We discuss the coupling processes between surface gravity waves and adjacent winds and currents in turbulent boundary layers. These processes mediate exchanges of momentum, heat, and gases between the atmosphere and ocean and thus are of global significance for climate. Surface waves grow primarily by pressure-form stress from airflow over the waveforms, and they dissipate in the open sea by wave breaking that injects and stirs momentum, energy, and bubbles into the ocean. Wave motions pump wind eddies that control fluxes across the lower atmosphere. Flow separation occurs behind steep wave crests, and at high winds the crests flatten into spume, which diminishes the drag coefficient. In the ocean the Lagrangian-mean wave velocity, Stokes drift, induces a vortex force and material transport. These generate Langmuir circulations penetrating throughout the boundary layer and enhancing entrainment at the stratified interior interface in combination with other turbulent eddies and inertial-shear instability.

The turbulent mixing in thin ocean surface boundary layers (OSBL), which occupy the upper 100 m or so of the ocean, control the exchange of heat and trace gases between the atmosphere and ocean. Here we show that current parameterizations of this turbulent mixing lead to systematic and substantial errors in the depth of the OSBL in global climate models, which then leads to biases in sea surface temperature. One reason, we argue, is that current parameterizations are missing key surface‐wave processes that force Langmuir turbulence that deepens the OSBL more rapidly than steady wind forcing. Scaling arguments are presented to identify two dimensionless parameters that measure the importance of wave forcing against wind forcing, and against buoyancy forcing. A global perspective on the occurrence of wave‐forced turbulence is developed using re‐analysis data to compute these parameters globally. The diagnostic study developed here suggests that turbulent energy available for mixing the OSBL is under‐estimated without forcing by surface waves. Wave‐forcing and hence Langmuir turbulence could be important over wide areas of the ocean and in all seasons in the Southern Ocean. We conclude that surface‐wave‐forced Langmuir turbulence is an important process in the OSBL that requires parameterization.