Does the Wind Stress Depend on the Sea State?

• Main Authors: Yelland, Margaret J, Taylor, Peter K
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University PressOxford 1999
• Subjects: Southern Ocean
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198501923.003.0012; https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52338797/isbn-9780198501923-book-part-12.pdf

Abstract This paper discusses the effect of sea state on the drag coefficient (C D10N) to 10 m neutral wind speed (U10N) relationship, with particular emphasis on open ocean conditions. A large set of open ocean wind stress measurements were made using the inertial dissipation method during three cruises of the RRS Discovery in the Southern Ocean (Yelland and Taylor, 1996; Yelland et al., 1998; Yelland, 1997). These data were used to determine the mean CmoN to U10N relationship for open ocean conditions, and the extent of the influence of the sea state on this relationship is investigated (Section 2). Possible causes of the observed deviations of the drag coefficient from the mean relationship are discussed in Section 3. Section 4 contains a brief discussion on the disparity between results from open-ocean studies and those obtained by previous authors in coastal or other shallow water sites.