Acoustic measurements of air entrainment by breaking waves

Wave breaking at the surface of the ocean plays an important role in air-sea interaction processes. Bubbles entrained by breaking waves not only enhance the transfer of atmospheric gases to the ocean, but also modify the phase speed and attenuation of acoustic waves propagating through the bubbly medium. The development of acoustic instruments to measure bubbles and the results obtained from a number of field and laboratory experiments are presented.; The first part of this dissertation addresses sound speed measurements made in the North Atlantic as part of the Acoustic Surface Reverberation Experiment (ASREX). An autonomous buoy system that directly measures the sound speed in the surface wave layer was developed. Data obtained with the instrument spanned several storm cycles with wind speeds and significant wave heights reaching 20 m/s and 8 m, respectively. The use of Wood's relation (1946) allows the calculation of the void fraction of air based on the low-frequency sound speed measurements. The highly variable near-surface sound speed/void fraction field is analyzed with respect to wind and surface wave-breaking parameters.; The second part of this dissertation presents the development of a broadband acoustic technique which simultaneously measures the phase speed and attenuation at acoustic frequencies ranging from 4-100 kHz. The acoustic data is inverted for the size distribution of bubbles using algorithms that are based upon the physics of sound propagation through a bubbly mixture. This acoustic technique was evaluated in the large wave channel at the Hydraulics Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, using mechanically generated breaking waves in seawater.; Field measurements of bubble concentrations that result from wave breaking were made in both shallow water off Scripps Pier, California and in deep water near Point Conception, California using the broadband technique. Significant variability is observed in the bubble field, characterized by number densities of bubbles changing several orders of magnitude over short time periods. Analysis of the data with supporting environmental measurements reveal that features in the observed bubble size distributions correlate with mixing and transport processes.