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Observations of the frequency of wind wave breaking in deep water are combined with laboratory estimates of the rate of energy loss a from single breaking wave to infer the net rate of energy transfer to the mixed layer from breaking waves, as a function of wind speed. Breaking waves with wavelengths much shorter than the dominant waves can contribute energy at a rate that is a significant fraction of the total turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate in the ocean surface mixed layer.
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S. A. Thorpe (1993) studied this question.
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