Energy budget of surface waves in the global ocean

Mechanical energy input from atmosphere and losses from wave-breaking dissipation of sea surface waves are estimated by a direct scheme. This scheme is based on the integration in the wavenumber space of the wind input and breaking dissipation source functions of the MASNUM wave model. The global amount of wind energy input, averaged in 2005, is about 57 TW, and the wave-breaking dissipation summed in deep-water is about 33 TW, over a half of the wind energy input. The residual may be dissipated by beach processes. Global distributions of the energy input and breaking dissipation concentrate in the westerlies of the Southern Hemisphere.

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