Wave Dynamics and Radio Probing of the Ocean Surface

In 1960, Dr. George Deacon ofthe National Institute ofOceanography in England organized a meeting in Easton, Maryland that summarized the state of our understanding at that time of ocean wave statistics and dynamics. It was a pivotal occasion: spectral techniques for wave measurement were beginning to be used, wave-wave interactions hadjust been discovered, and simple models for the growth of waves by wind were being developed. The meeting laid the foundation for much work that was to follow, but one could hardly have imagined the extent to which new techniques of measurement, particularly by remote sensing, new methods of calculation and computation, and new theoretical and laboratory results would, in the following twenty years, build on this base. When Gaspar Valenzuela of the V. S. Naval Research Laboratory perceived that the time was right for a second such meeting, it was natural that Sir George Deacon would be invited to serve as honorary chairman for the meeting, and the entire waves community was delighted at his acceptance. The present volume contains reviewed and edited papers given at this second meeting, held this time in Miami, Florida, May 13-20, 1981, with the generous support of the Office of Naval Research, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Keynote Addresses.- Keynote Addresses.- Sir george Deacon, Honorary Chairman.- Dr. William Rainey, Nasa.- Mr. Herbert Rabin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy.- I. Ocean Wave Spectra.- 1. The Equilibrium Ranges in Wind-Wave Spectra: Physical arguments and Experimental Evidence for and against Their Existence.- 2. Nonlinear Energy Transfer between Random Gravity Waves: some computational Results and Their Interpretation.- 3. The Interaction between Long and Short Wind-Generated Waves.- 4. Energy Distribution of Waves above 1 Hz on long wind waves.- 5. The effects of Surfactant on Certain Air-Sea Interaction Phenomena.- 6. Experimental Study of Elementary Processes in Wind-Waves Using Wind Over Regular Waves.- 7. An Experimental Study of the Statistical Properties of Wind-Generated Gravity Waves.- 8. On Finite-Depth Wind-Wave Generation and Dissipation.- 9. The Equilibrium Range for Waves in Water of Finite Depth.- II. Wave Propagation.- 10. The 1978 Ocean Wave Dynamics Experiment: Optical and in Situ measurement of the Phase Velocity of Wind Waves.- 11. Transformation of Statistical Properties of Shallow-Water Waves.- 12. Aspects of the Velocity Field and Dispersion Relation in Surface Wind Waves.- III. Wave Instabilities and Breaking.- 13. Advances in Breaking-Wave Dynamics.- 14. Experimental Studies of Strong Nonlinear Interactions of Deep-water Gravity Waves.- 15. The Instability and Breaking of a Deep-Water Wave Train.- 16. Measurements of Breaking Waves: Implications for Wind-Stress and Wave Generation.- 17. Statistical Characteristics of Breaking Waves.- 18. On Microwave Scattering by Breaking Waves.- 19. Observation of Breaking Ocean Waves with Coherent Microwave Radar.- 20. An Estimate of the Influence of Breaking Waves on the Dynamics of the Upper Ocean.- 21. Stability of Nonlinear Capillary Waves.- IV. Air Flow Over Waves.- 22. A Comparison of the Wave-Induced Momentum Flux to Breaking and Nonbreaking Waves.- 23. Observations and Measurements of Air Flow over Water Waves.- 24. Measurements of Wave-Induced Pressure over Surface Gravity Waves.- V. Methods of Remote Sensing.- 25. The Sar Image of Short Gravity Waves on a Long Gravity Wave.- 26. The Response of Synthetic Aperture Radar to Ocean Surface Waves.- 27. On the Ability of Synthetic Aperture Radar to Measure Ocean Waves.- 28. Limitations of the Seasat Sar in High Sea States.- 29. Microwave Scattering from Short Gravity Waves: Deterministic, Coherent, Dual- Polarized Study of the Relationship between Backscatter and Water Wave Properties.- 30. Remote Sensing of Directional Wave Spectra using the Surface Contour Radar.- 31. The Visibility of rms Slope Variations on the Sea Surface.- VI. Sea Surface Measurements.- 32. Southern Ocean Waves and Winds Derived from Seasat Altimeter Measurements.- 33. Marineland AirCraft Observations of L-band Radar Backscatter Dependence upon Wind Direction.- 34. Microwave Measurements over the North Sea.- 35. Some Skywave Radar Measurements of Wind Vectors and Wave Spectra: Comparison with Conventional Data for JASIN 1978.- 36. Study of the Modulation by Correlation in the Time and Frequency Domains of Wave Height and Microwave Signal: Preliminary Results.- 37. HF Radar Measurements of Wave Spectral Development.- 38. Passive Microwave Probing of Roughened Sea.- VII. Wave Modeling.- 39. Inverse Modeling in Ocean Wave Studies.- 40. Comparisons of Hurricane Fico Winds and Waves from Numerical Models with Observations from SEASAT-A.- 41. Modeling Wind-Driven Sea in Shallow Water.- 42. An Evaluation of Operational Wave Forecasts on Shallow Water.- 43. Anomalous Dispersion in Numerical Models of Wave Spectra.- 44. Some Problems in the Development of the National Coastal Waves Program.- 45. Models for the Hurricane Wave Field.- Participants.