Localized influence of Langmuir supercells on turbulence in shallow water

In shallow water, Langmuir supercells generated by the interaction between surface water waves and wind-driven shear turbulence are pairs of counter-rotating streamwise vortices that can engulf the whole water column. Because Langmuir supercells can exist for long time at a fixed location, they can greatly influence the distribution of turbulence. In this study, we performed wall-resolved large-eddy simulations of Langmuir turbulence in shallow water based on the C-L equations to investigate the localized influence of Langmuir supercells on turbulence. The distributions of the Reynolds stresses contributed by turbulence are analyzed. The underlying mechanism for the localized influence is analyzed based on the budgets of the Reynolds stresses contributed by turbulence. The relationship between the intensities of the localized Reynolds stresses and the Langmuir supercells is elucidated.