Prof. Mark A. Donelan , FRSC

Research Interests

Air-sea interaction, wave dynamics, boundary layer turbulence, wave modelling, remote sensing, gas transfer, storm surge modelling, wind stress modelling.

The focus of my research program is to improve understanding of the air-water interface and many of the physical processes involving transport across it. This field combines the study of the well organized wave motions at the interface with the highly chaotic turbulent boundary layers on either side separated by thin boundary layers of relative calm imposed by the dissipative effects of viscosity. Various research programs additionally involve the science of electromagnetic propagation, acoustic propagation, surface chemistry, and the mathematics of modelling geophysical flows. Collaborative work with the members of faculty at the Rosenstiel School greatly augments the possibilities for in depth research, e.g., Graber, Drennan , Saltzman , Mooers, Willemsen . Prospective students are urged to visit these web sites as well in the important search for the most appropriate guidance during your learning and research in the M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs.

The Methods and Tools of Research

Field Programs

ASIS Buoy

Direct measurements of natural phenomena remain the corner stone of research in air-sea interaction and wave dynamics. Ultimately, measurements of actual phenomena are required to test ideas, theories and inferences from numerical modelling and laboratory experiments. The excitement of designing and executing field experiments -wrestling with the awesome forces of nature to glean some sensitive piece of information- is unparalleled in the study of oceanography.

Specialized platforms for pursuing innovative field studies include the ASIS (air-sea interaction spar) buoy.

The photo to the right shows the ASIS (air-sea interaction spar) buoy deployed in drifting mode in the Gulf of Mexico. Here the buoy is equipped for high resolution wave directional measurements as well as atmospheric surface layer structure and turbulent fluxes of momentum, mass and energy across the air-sea interface.

The Rosenstiel School will commission a new catamaran research ship at the end of 1999. Measuring 100 feet in length and 40 feet in beam and capable of speeds up to 18 knots, this vessel will be an important resource as both a platform for air-sea interaction research as well as a means for deploying the ASIS buoys and other oceanographic moorings.

Architect's drawing of the Rosenstiel School's planned research catamaran

Other platforms are chartered to provide specialized capabilities for research in air-sea interaction and wave dynamics. For example, the Canadian Coast Guard vessel, "Frederick G. Creed" is currently being used as a platform for investigating wind-wave interaction and wave dissipation in a multi-investigator program to study shoaling waves off the North Carolina Coast - SHOWEX.

The Canadian research ship "Frederick G. Creed" as she was equipped in the pilot experiment (October 1998 near Halifax, Nova Scotia) for SHOWEX. The "Frederick G. Creed" is a SWATH (Small Water-plane Area Twin Hull) ship with active computer control of its attitude and draft. Control surfaces on its underwater sponsons keep it on an even heel at high speeds in rough seas. This allows one to make delicate measurements close to the surface in waves up to 4 meters in height (see right panel).

Laboratory Programs

The study of air-sea interaction involves scales of motion that range from tens of kilometers to fractions of millimeters. For many phenomena the interaction between scales is strongest for neighboring scales and it is often instructive to isolate a restricted range of scales in a laboratory experiment. Here too the experimenter has control of all the governing conditions and can emphasize one process over all others the better to understand its role in the complex mix of a multitude of different processes and scales at the natural air-water interface. The Rosenstiel School has an ultra-modern (under construction in the fall of 1998) tool for air-sea studies in the laboratory. This is the unique Air-Sea Interaction Salt-water Tank (ASIST) facility.

Schematic drawing of the Air-Sea Interaction Salt-water Tank (ASIST) facility.

ASIST is a fully equipped wind-wave tank complete with: wind tunnel (0-25 m/s); programmable wavemaker; water temperature control; water current control; turbulence instrumentation including: hot-film anemometry; particle image velocimetry; wave instrumentation including: laser slope and height gauges; capacitance height gauges; two-dimensional slope-imaging devices with CCD cameras; and fast response chemical analysis equipment for turbulent flux measurements including H₂O, CO ₂, DMS. The tank has a working section of length 15 m and cross-section 1m x 1m. All parts in contact with either fluid (air or water) are constructed of acrylic or stainless steel.

This laboratory facility is designed for studies relevant to air-sea interaction including remote sensing, turbulence, gas transfer, wave dynamics, surface chemistry, spray and aerosol generation, interfacial thermodynamics.

RSMAS/AMP
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149-1098, USA

Telephone: (305) 421-4717
Fax: (305) 421-4701 
Email: mdonelan@rsmas.miami.edu

Research: Various aspects of air-sea interaction particularly wave generation, propagation and decay and momentum, heat and mass transfer, gas transfer, wave forecasting - theory and numerical modelling; remote sensing

Teaching: Graduate courses in fluid mechanics, wave theory and coastal engineering

Instrument Development: Development of instruments and measuring systems in oceanography

1960-64	B.Eng., (Electrical Engineering), McGill University
1966-70	Ph.D., Physics (Oceanography), University of British Columbia
1970-71	Post-Doctoral appointment, Department of Applied Mathematics Theoretical Physics, Cambridge University

1996-present:	Professor, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami
1971-96:	Research Scientist, Department of the Environment, Federal Government of Canada

1997	Scientist Emeritus, Environment Canada
1997	Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
1994	Sverdrup Gold Medal of the American Meteorological Society
1989	Elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society
1984	Humboldt Research Fellow in the Max-Planck Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg, Germany

1986-1999	Member of NASA Scatterometer Science Definition Team
1993	Member of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research Working Group #101 on The Influence of Sea State on the Wind Drag
1993	Member of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research Working Group #103 on The Role of Wave Breaking on Upper Ocean Dynamics
1996	Chief Scientist of the Shoaling Waves Experiment (a collective field experiment funded principally by ONR)
1997	Scientific Working group for QuikScat NASA Scatterometer
2001	Editor, Journal of Physical Oceanography

Donelan, M.A., Plant, W.J., 2002: Threshold and Hystersis Efeccts in Wind Wave Growth and Decay. Part I: Gravity-Capilary Waves. J. Phys. Oceangr., (in press).

Donelan, M.A., Babanin, A.V., Young, I.R., Banner, M.L., and McCormick, C., 2002: Wave Follower Field Measurements of the Wind Input Spectral Function. Part I. Measurements and Calibrations. J. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, (in press).

Young, I.R., Banner, M.L., Donelan, M.A., Babanin, A.V., Melville, W.K., Veron, F., and McCormick, C., 2002: An Integrated Study of the Wind Wave Source Term Balance in Finite Depth Water. J. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, (in press).

Donelan, M.A., Dobsen, F.W., Graber, H.C., Madsen, N., and McCormick, C., 2002: Measurement of Wind Waves and Wave-Coherent Air Pressures on the Open Sea from a Moving Swath Vessel. J. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, (in press).

Uz, B.M., Hara, T., Bock, E.J., and Donelan, M.A.: 2002, Laboratory observations of gravity-cappillary waves under transient wind forcing. J. Geophys. Res., (in press).

Pettersson, H., Graber, H.C., Hauser, D., Quentin, C., Kahma, K.K., Drennan, W.M., and Doneland, M.A., 2003: Directional Wave Measurements From Three Wave Sensors During the FETCH Experiment. J. Geophys. Res. 108:C3, 8061.

Uz, B.M., Donelan, M.A., Hara, T., and Bock, E.J.: 2002, Laboratory studies of Wind Stress over Surface Waves. Boundary Layer Meteorology, 102, 301-331.

Cooper, W.J., Alaee, M., and Donelan, M.A., 2002: Development and Testing of an Eddy Accumulater, Chapter in Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces, Geophysical Monograph #127, American Geophysical Union, 321-324.

Donelan, M.A. and Magnusson, A.K., 2002: Harmonic Distortion in Storm Waves and Consequences for Extreme Crest Heights. Proceedings 7th International Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting, October 21-25, 2002, Banff, Alberta, Canada, 261-269.

Donelan, M.A. and Wanninkhof, R., 2002: Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces - Concepts and Issues, Chapter in Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces, Geophysical Monograph #127, American Geophysical Union, 1-10.

Donelan, M.A., Drennan, W.M., Saltman, E.S., and Wanninkhof, R., (Editors) 2002: Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces, Geophysical Monograph #127, American Geophysical Union.

Donelan, M.A., 2001: Effects of Surface Waves on Oceanic Turbulence. Ocean Sciences at the New Millenium. National Science Foundation.

Donelan, M.A., 2001: A New Method of Analysis of Wave Data to Yield Wavenumber - Directional Spectra. Proceedings of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Workshop on Ocean Wave Forecasting, July 2-4, 2001, Reading, England.

Donelan, M.A., 2001: A Nonlinear Dissipation Function due to Wave Breaking. Proceedings of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Workshop on Ocean Wave Forecasting, July 2-4, 2001, Reading, England.

Donelan, M.A., 2001: A New Method for Directional Wave Analysis Based on Wavelets. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Ocean Wave Measurement and Analysis, September 2-6, 2001, San Francisco, California.

Shankaranarayanan, K. and Donelan, M.A.: 2000, A Probabilistic Approach to Scatterometer Model Function Verification.  J. Geophys. Res. (in press).

Magnusson, A.K., M.A. Donelan, and W.M. Drennan, 1999: On Estimating Extremes in an Evolving Wave Field.  Coastal Engineering, 36, 147-163.

Donelan, M.A., W.M. Drennan, and A.K. Magnusson, 1996: Nonstationary Analysis of the Directional Properties of Propagating Waves.  Journal of Physical Oceanography, 26:9, 1901-1914.

Donelan, M.A. and Pierson, W.J., 1987: Radar Scattering and Equilibrium Ranges in Wind-Generated Waves - With Application to Scatterometry.  Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, Vol. 92, C5, 4971-5029.

Donelan M.A., 1990: Air-Sea Interaction. Chapter in The Sea - Volume 9: Ocean Engineering Science.  B. LeMehaute and D.M. Hanes (Eds.).  Wiley Interscience, 239-292.

Donelan, M.A., and W.H. Hui, 1990: Mechanics of Ocean Surface Waves.  Chapter in Surface Waves and Fluxes, G.L. Geernaert and W.J. Plant (Eds.).  D. Reidel Publishing Company, 209-246.

Donelan, M.A., Hamilton, J. and Hui, W.H., 1985: Directional Spectra of Wind-Generated Waves.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A 315, 509-562.

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