Research Interests Current projects Recent publications (sample) Complete publication list Biography Contact Information References in air-sea interaction and related fields

Research Interests

Air-sea interaction, turbulence, boundary layers, surface gravity waves, upper ocean dynamics, fluid dynamics, nonlinear dynamics, numerical modelling, time series analysis techniques. 

My research focuses on ocean waves and their impact on atmospheric and oceanic processes. The research has a large field component with measurements carried out from ships and buoys. Many measurements are sensitive to motion of the platform: this is fully measured, and accounted for, using state of the art hardware and software. The RSMAS group is at the leading edge of in situ high resolution field measurements with the newly developed ASIS (Air-sea interaction spar) buoy. In addition, we have close links with researchers at the Hurricane Research Division at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, located across the street.

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Current and recent projects include the following:

LABSEA 2004 CBLAST 2003-2004 Baltic Sea 2003 GASEX 2001 AWE 2000 SHOWEX 1999 GOM99 FETCH 1998 AGILE 1995 SWADE 1990-1991

Map courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps used with permission Clickable map showing locations of field experiments.

Baltic Sea 2003: During September-October 2003 we will be carrying out an experiment to study flux-profile relations over the sea, with a particular interest in how they vary in different wave conditions. The experiment will make use of an ASIS buoy to measure near-surface fluxes and profiles, along with wave spectra. The experiment, to be carried out off the island of Östergarnsholm, Sweden (see X on map at right), is a collaboration between RSMAS, Uppsala University (Ulf Högström and Ann-Sofi Smedman) and the Finnish Institute for Marine Research (Kimmo Kahma). The RSMAS component is funded by NSF. Further details will follow.

CBLAST-Hurricane (Coupled Boundary Layer Air Sea Transfer) is the hurricane component of a 5 year Defense Research Initiative sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. In collaboration with researchers at AOML (PI: P. Black) and elsewhere, we will be conducting measurements of turbulent fluxes within hurricanes, using sensors mounted on NOAA WP-3D aircraft. These measurements are part of a longer term objective to understand some of the dynamics controlling hurricane development. Field measurements are planned during 2004.

GASEX (The Equatorial Pacific Air-Sea CO2 Exchange Experiment) is a three year program sponsored by NOAA's Office of Global Programs. The primary objective is to determine the magnitude and controls on the CO2 gas transfer velocity in the Equatorial Pacific. The field component took place during January-March 2001. An ASIS buoy equipped to measure air-sea surface transfer rates of CO2, momentum, heat and H2O, along with oceanic turbulence, surface waves, and supporting meteorological data was deployed from the R/V Ron Brown. Other groups made measurements from the Brown, and from several other buoys.

SHOWEX (Shoaling Waves Experiment), a five year field oriented Department Research Initiative by the Office of Naval Research to improve the scientific understanding of the properties and evolution of surface gravity waves in intermediate and shallow water depths (typical of inner continental shelves up to the edge of the surf zone). The field experiment took place off Duck, NC during fall 1999.

The AGILE campaign of 1994-1995, in which a small vessel was employed to make direct (eddy correlation) measurements of the air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat and CO2, along with turbulence measurements via hot-film anemometry, in both the atmosphere and water column. The goals of the work are : 1) to establish the dependence of kinetic energy dissipation rate in the upper layers on wind forcing, column stability and wave breaking intensity as reflected in the degree of saturation of the wavenumber spectrum; and 2) to parameterize the effect of sea state, including swells on the air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat and mass. 

Other recent work includes laboratory measurements with hot-wire anemometry, laser-Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and acoustic current meters, numerical modelling of waves and turbulence, and analytical work on Stokes waves. 

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Biography

I hold Ph.D. (1989) and M.Math. (1984) degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and a B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Engineering (1982) from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. My studies were concentrated in the field of fluid dynamics, including my doctoral dissertation on the topic of high order solutions to the Stokes water wave problem. I carried out postgraduate training at the National Water Research Institute, Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Burlington, Ontario, Canada (1989-1991), and was resident at NWRI as a visiting scientist during 1991-1997. I have been at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami since 1997, and currently hold the rank of Associate Professor.  

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Selected recent Publications

For a complete list of publications, click here

Drennan, W.M., H.C. Graber, D. Hauser and C. Quentin, 2003 On the wave age dependence of wind stress over pure wind seas. J. Geophys. Res. , 108 (C3), 8062, doi:10.1029/2000JC00715. Abstract

Pettersson, H., H.C. Graber, D. Hauser, C. Quentin, K.K. Kahma, W.M. Drennan, and M.A. Donelan, 2003: Directional wave measurements from three wave sensors during the FETCH experiment, J. Geophys. Res., 108 (C3), 8061, doi:10.1029/2001JC01164. Abstract

Graber, H.C., E.A. Terray, M.A. Donelan, W.M. Drennan, J. Van Leer and D.B. Peters, 2000: ASIS -- A new air-sea interaction spar buoy: design and performance at sea. J. Atmos. Oceanic Tech. 17, 708-720. Abstract

Drennan, W.M., K.K. Kahma and M.A. Donelan, 1999: On momentum flux and velocity spectra over waves. Bound.-Layer Meteorol. 92, 489-515 Abstract

Drennan, W.M., H.C. Graber and M.A. Donelan, 1999. Evidence for the effects of swell and unsteady winds on marine wind stress. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 29, 1853-1864. Abstract

Donelan, M.A., W.M. Drennan and K.B. Katsaros, 1997: The air-sea momentum flux in mixed wind sea and swell conditions. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 27, 2087-2099.  Abstract

Drennan, W.M., M.A. Donelan, K.B. Katsaros and E.A. Terray, 1996. Oceanic turbulence dissipation measurements in SWADE. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 26, 808-815.  Abstract

Terray, E.A., M.A. Donelan, Y.C. Agrawal, W.M. Drennan, K.K. Kahma, A.J. Williams III, P.A Hwang and S.A. Kitaigorodskii, 1996: Estimates of kinetic energy dissipation under breaking waves. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 26, 792-807.  Abstract

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Contact Information
Prof. William M. Drennan
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
Applied Marine Physics Division
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, Florida 33l49 U.S.A.

Telephone: +1-305-421-4798
Fax: +1-305-421-470l
wdrennan@rsmas.miami.edu 

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