NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the panel responsible for this report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
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Panel on Boundary Layer Dynamics
Peter G. Brewer,
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute,
Chair
Hans C. Graber,
University of Miami
William G. Large,
National Center for Atmospheric Research
W. Kendall Melville,
University of California at San Diego
William J. Plant,
University of Washington
Dennis W. Thomson,
Pennsylvania State University
Marshall Tulin,
University of California at Santa Barbara
Invited Participant
Bruce Lake,
TRW
Navy Liaison Representative
Bhakta Rath,
Naval Research Laboratory
Consultant
Sidney G. Reed, Jr.
Naval Studies Board
David R. Heebner,
Science Applications International Corporation (retired),
Chair
George M. Whitesides,
Harvard University,
Vice Chair
Albert J. Baciocco, Jr.,
The Baciocco Group, Inc.
Alan Berman,
Applied Research Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University
Norman E. Betaque,
Logistics Management Institute
Norval L. Broome,
Mitre Corporation
Gerald A. Cann,
Raytheon Electronic Systems
Seymour J. Deitchman,
Institute for Defense Analyses (retired),
Special Advisor
Anthony J. DeMaria,
DeMaria Electro-Optics Systems, Inc.
John F. Egan,
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Robert Hummel,
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
David W. McCall,
AT&T Bell Laboratories (retired)
Robert J. Murray,
Center for Naval Analyses
Robert B. Oakley,
National Defense University
William J. Phillips,
Northstar Associates, Inc.
Mara G. Prentiss,
Jefferson Laboratory, Harvard University
Herbert Rabin,
University of Maryland
Julie JCH Ryan,
Booz, Allen and Hamilton
Harrison Shull,
Naval Postgraduate School (retired)
Keith A. Smith,
U.S. Marine Corps (retired)
Robert C. Spindel,
Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington
David L. Stanford,
Science Applications International Corporation
H. Gregory Tomatore,
Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University
J. Pace VanDevender,
Prosperity Institute
Vincent Vitto,
Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bruce Wald,
Center for Naval Analyses
Navy Liaison Representatives
Ronald N. Kostoff,
Office of Naval Research
Paul G. Blatch,
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
Ronald D. Taylor, Director
Peter W. Rooney, Program Officer
Susan G. Campbell, Administrative Assistant
Mary (Dixie) Gordon, Information Officer
Christopher A. Hanna, Project Assistant
Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications
Robert J. Hermann,
United Technologies Corporation,
Co-Chair
W. Carl Lineberger,
University of Colorado,
Co-Chair
Peter M. Banks,
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan
Lawrence D. Brown,
University of Pennsylvania
Ronald G. Douglas,
Texas A&M University
John E. Estes,
University of California at Santa Barbara
L. Louis Hegedus,
Elf Atochem North America, Inc.
John E. Hopcroft,
Cornell University
Rhonda J. Hughes,
Bryn Mawr College
Shirley A. Jackson,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Kenneth H. Keller,
The Harold Pratt House
Kenneth I. Kellermann,
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Margaret G. Kivelson,
University of California at Los Angeles
Daniel Kleppner,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John Kreick,
Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company
Marsha I. Lester,
University of Pennsylvania
Thomas A. Prince,
California Institute of Technology
Nicholas P. Samios,
Brookhaven National Laboratory
L.E. Scriven,
University of Minnesota
Shmuel Winograd,
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Charles A. Zraket,
Mitre Corporation (retired)
Norman Metzger, Executive Director
Preface
To assist with its long-range strategic planning, the Naval Research Laboratory (NR.L) requested that the Naval Studies Board of the National Research Council (NRC) form a panel to study research opportunities and related issues in boundary layer dynamics. NRL's request for independent advice acknowledged the importance of this area of science for a broad range of naval applications. Generally, boundary layer dynamics (BLD) is concerned with observing, modeling, and predicting the structure of and changes in the atmospheric and upper ocean environment in which the Navy operates. Besides nonlinear dynamics of the marine atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers, radiative fluxes and thermodynamic phase changes are involved in BLD, all of which must be understood to serve the Navy's interests in such topics as signal propagation and ocean wave prediction. Coastal areas are particularly challenging, because it is in nearshore environments that BLD processes are most complex. Coastal atmospheric phenomena and processes have been addressed in the NRC report Coastal Meteorology-A Review of the State of the Science (National Academy Press, Washington D.C., 1992), which discusses many scientific opportunities specific to coastal regions and provides a valuable complement to the present report.
In response to NRL's formal request, the Panel on Boundary Layer Dynamics was established and was directed to assess research challenges in the area, identify leading research groups worldwide, and discuss the best use of NRL's research facilities for work in BLD. As with the other parallel efforts in the NRL Strategic Series studies, the panel was requested to meet with NRL researchers working in BLD and receive briefings on existing and planned research efforts. These briefings would guide the panel as it considered potential characteristics of and research thrusts for a coordinated and focused program in boundary layer dynamics to make the best use of NRL capabilities and facilities, particularly the most recently assimilated NRL laboratory on the West Coast, in BLD research.
The formal charge to the panel was as follows:
The environment has considerable impact on the ability to detect, localize, and identify objects remotely. Boundary layer meteorology appears to be a dominant factor affecting the Navy environment. Critical aspects of this will be examined and discussed according to the following:
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The air/sea interface has been investigated experimentally and theoretically for decades, with many sophisticated models currently available. Yet, there are inconsistencies between models and between theory and experimental observations in a number of cases. An assessment of the experimental and theoretical scientific opportunities is desired. Particular emphasis is desired for the examination of leading R&D activities worldwide and a priority ranking of the frontiers currently anticipated.
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Hydrodynamic modeling is an important aspect of predicting the ocean surface patterns resulting from wind/wave interaction. The formation of wave roughness patterns, slicks, and other phenomena is the result of a complex process. What are the scientific principles which are highest priority to pursue in order to understand these phenomena? Where are the leading groups in this endeavor?
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The effect of microwave scattering from the ocean surface is a complex phenomenon. Rough surfaces are more difficult to handle due to breakdown of the Fourier approximation normally used to model scattering from minimally perturbed surfaces. The surface takes on complex patterns involving nonlinear wave-wave/current interactions, surface tension effects, etc. Millimeter waves demonstrate a number of
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these complexities. What scientific principles are currently being pursued and/or appear to be the leading endeavors during the next decade in this field? Where are the leading efforts worldwide?
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Given the pockets of technical expertise currently pursuing these efforts, what facilities should be emphasized by various types of participants (academic, government laboratory, industrial) for maximum progress in this field?
During the course of the study, the Panel on Boundary Layer Dynamics held meetings at NRL-East, Washington, D.C., on May 19, 1992; at NRL-West, Monterey, California, on July 9–10, 1992; at NRL-S, Stennis Space Flight Center, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on October 29–30, 1992; and at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Pacific Grove, California, on November 18, 1993.