Acoustically relevant bubble assemblages and their dependence on meteorological parameters

Abstract

A detailed physical model of the life history of a typical bubble plume, from its formation by a breaking wave to its dissipation into the background bubble population, is given, and the relationship between the early, acoustically relevant stages in bubble-plume development and the associated, remotely detectable whitecap is described. The manner in which the fraction of the sea surface covered by stage A spilling crests and by stage B mature whitecaps depends upon wind speed and upon wind stress or friction velocity is investigated. Formal expressions are given whereby near-surface bubble concentrations can be estimated from observations of fractional whitecap coverage or from measurements of the 10-m elevation wind speed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>