Langmuir Circulation With Explicit Surface Waves From Moving‐Mesh Modeling

Using a moving‐mesh, nonhydrostatic, spectral element model, we simulate Langmuir circulation with Navier‐Stokes equations under explicit, freely propagating surface waves. For comparison, Langmuir circulation is also simulated with Craik‐Leibovich (C‐L) equations. In both simulations, the Langmuir circulations are very similar, including temporal formation progresses and spatial structures; however, the strength of Langmuir circulation in the C‐L simulation is a bit weaker, which we suggest is due to the lack of Eulerian mean drift induced by fluid viscosity in the presence of explicit surface waves.