Spray in the atmospheric surface layer: Review and analysis of laboratory and oceanic results

Previous measurements of spray, conducted with various techniques, are reviewed; the results are reanalyzed and compared to provide parametric descriptions of spray in the atmospheric surface layer. The number of droplets is shown to decrease in a power law form with elevation above the water surface. The size distribution of droplets peaks around 200 μm; on the side of larger droplets the frequency of occurrence of droplets decreases with increasing size and appears to approach asymptotically an equilibrium shape at high winds. These results are used along with calculations of droplet motions to determine the mean velocity and the mean distance of traveling of droplets and, subsequently, the concentration of droplets and the effects of spray on momentum, heat, and mass transfers across the air-water interface. Finally, the results appear to indicate that the spray in laboratory tanks is produced by bubble bursting.

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