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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 108, NO. C3, 8062, doi:10.1029/2000JC000715, 2003

On the wave age dependence of wind stress over pure wind seas

William M. Drennan

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA


Hans C. Graber

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA


Danièle Hauser

Centre d'étude des Environnements Terrestres et Planétaires (CETP), Vélizy, France


Céline Quentin

Centre d'étude des Environnements Terrestres et Planétaires (CETP), Vélizy, France


Abstract

Data from five recent field campaigns are selected for pure wind sea, deep water, and fully rough flow conditions. The combined data set includes a wide range of wave ages, with high variability in both friction velocity and wave phase speed. These data, which are expected to follow Monin-Obukhov similarity scaling, are used to investigate the influence of wave age on wind stress. The relationship between the dimensionless roughness and inverse wave age is found to be zo/σ = 13.4 (u*/cp)3.4, where zo is the surface roughness length, σ is the standard deviation of the surface elevation, u* is the friction velocity, and cp is the wave phase speed at the peak of the spectrum. This relationship, which represents a significant dependence of roughness on wave age, was obtained using a procedure that minimizes the effects of spurious correlation in u*. It is also shown to be consistent with the wave age relationship derived using an alternate form of the dimensionless roughness, namely, the Charnock parameter zog/u*2, where g is the gravitational constant.

Published 13 March 2003.

Index Terms: 4504 Oceanography: Physical: Air/sea interactions (0312); 4247 Oceanography: General: Marine meteorology; 4560 Oceanography: Physical: Surface waves and tides (1255); 3307 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Boundary layer processes.

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Citation: 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:10.1029/2000JC000715.