Abstract The purpose of this study is to present the first estimates of the breaking strength parameter, b $b$, for individual oceanic whitecaps. This is achieved by combining the estimates of the dissipation rate per unit breaking crest length for these whitecaps reported in Callaghan et al. (2024, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023jc020193) with a measure of the whitecap breaking wave speed to implement the Duncan (1981, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1981.0127) relationship. The resulting values of b $b$ span the range of previously reported laboratory values. Moreover, average values of b $b$ are in excellent agreement with previous fieldâderived average values using different approaches. The results suggest that making routine estimates of b $b$ for individual whitecaps is now possible. This opens up new possibilities for how the fifth moment of Phillipsâ Î(c) ${\Lambda }(c)$ distribution of breaking wave crests can be better constrained to estimate the total dissipation rate of energy by oceanic whitecaps.
Observations from the Little Bunker
Last updated: October 16, 2025 02:57 AM
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