The latest results obtained with the OCARINA platform highlighted in EOS, the AGU journal
This wave tracking platform was developed ten years ago to study turbulent flows at the air-sea interface, in collaboration with LATMOS, LOCEAN, Ifremer, Météo-France, LOPS, IRPHE, DT-INSU, and LOG. Two prototypes exist and have been deployed in various regions since 2011. The measurements obtained, mainly under wave conditions, provide a new perspective compared to measurements taken on oceanographic vessels.
In the published paper, the measurements are qualified and various parameterizations used in atmospheric surface boundary layer models are evaluated, from the friction coefficient to the standard turbulence dissipation function. The data are freely accessible on https://www.seanoe.org/data/00486/59768/=1&itemsPerPage=1000&searchFor=o... and https://erddap.osupytheas.fr/erddap/search/index.html?page=1&itemsPerPag... The distribution of the flow calculation code is also public, https://gitlab.osupytheas.fr/bourras.d/albatros_public_distrib_public_di...
OCARINA will continue its mission in 2020 in Barbados, as part of the EUREC4A project (project led by the LMD, S. Speich, H. Bellenger), equipped with complementary instruments, including an ADCP signature and a prototype capillary wave measurement instrument developed by the IRPHE and the OSU-Pytheas (C. Luneau and Hubert Branger).
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
"Data obtained from a wave-following platform are used to calibrate coefficients and multiple parameterizations of air-sea fluxes in swell conditions.
Turbulent fluxes are physical quantities that describe the exchanges of heat and momentum through the air-sea interface. They are critical to the processes of weather and climate change. A limited understanding of air-sea exchanges makes weather prediction difficult and lead to uncertainty in climate projection. A big challenge is the lack of efficient technology to make measurements.
Bourras et al. [2019] have obtained in-situ observations on a novel wave-following platform in four oceanic regions and under different conditions. Various parameterizations for surface fluxes and related coefficients are calibrated against the observations. The authors only collected data under moderate winds, thus observations on turbulent fluxes under strong winds (such as hurricane and typhoon) still require a breakthrough."