| The governing equations of a surface wave field and a coexisting roll–streak circulation typical of Langmuir circulations or submesoscale frontal circulations are derived to better describe their two-way interactions. The gradients and vertical velocities of the roll–streak circulation induce wave refraction, amplitude modulation and higher-order waves. These changes then produce wave–wave nonlinear forces and divergence of the wave-induced mass transport, both of which in turn affect the circulation. To accurately represent these processes, both a wave theory and a wave-averaged theory are developed without relying on any extrapolation, any spatiotemporal mapping or an approximation that treats the wave-induced mass divergence as being concentrated at the... |
