Langmuir Turbulence in Upper Ocean Boundary Layer

A large-eddy simulation (LES) model is used to investigate the characteristics of Langmuir turbulence (LT) in the upper ocean boundary layer by solving the grid-filtered Craik-Leibovich (CL) equations. Different parameterizations of LT are measured in an LES model. We have set up models with imposed aerodynamic stresses and bathymetric drag in the upper ocean boundary layer to understand the relative influences of surface wind stress, and Stokes drift velocity, on the structural variations of Langmuir cells (LC). The model applies an improvement to the turbulence structure, scale, and the entrainment buoyancy flux in the ocean surface boundary layer. The structure of LC is dominantly affected by non-uniform turbulent Langmuir number. Associated with this are downwind surface convergence zones adjacent to divergence zones that are rotated, corresponding to the latitude of local conditions. The horizontal scale of the Langmuir cells expands with depth. In the turbulent OBL, Langmuir cells have irregular patterns with finite correlation scales in space and time that depends on different conditions.