What information can be gathered from patterns in turbulent free-surface flows?

Gas transfer between ocean and atmosphere is largely governed by the turbulence in the topmost centimetres beneath the free surface. It has been frequently observed that areas of strong positive divergence of the surface-tangential velocity field correspond to efficient surface renewal and consequently increased transfer of gas across the interface. Patches of strong positive surface divergence occur through intermittent upwelling events visible as ``boils'' on the surface.

It has been qualitatively observed that surface-attached ``bathtub'' vortices tend to appear at the edges of upwelling boils, as well as sharp valleys, sometimes referred to as ``scars”. Surface-attached vortices and scars leave imprints on the surface which are particularly simple to detect: the vortices are circular and live for a long time, while scars are sharp and elongated structures.

From direct numerical simulations, we show that a very high correlation exists between the time-dependent number of surface-attached vortices and the mean square of the surface divergence. We use a newly developed method whereby the surface-attached vortices are identified with high precision and accuracy from their surface imprint only.

We also looked at the turbulent structures just beneath the surface-attached vortices and the scars, noting how far under the surface these structures propagate and, thus, how far into the flow subsurface features can be read from patterns on the surface only.

The main application is in remote sensing, as these patterns on the surface can be easily detected using camera footage, for example. These patterns would give estimates of the subsurface quantities without the need for expensive measurement.