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The estimate of the surface fluxes of momentum, sensible heat, and water vapor over the ocean is important in numerical modeling for weather forecasting, air quality modeling, environmental impact assessment, and climate modeling, which, in particular, requires more accurate flux calculations. The accuracy of flux calculations depends on an important parameter: the surface roughness length. More than five decades ago Charnock (1955) formulated the surface roughness length over the ocean, relating the sea-surface roughness to wind stress on the basis of dimensional argument. Even now the Charnock wind stress formula is widely used. However, in the free convection limit, the horizontal mean wind speed and the wind stress approach zero, therefore the friction velocity also approaches zero; in this condition, the Charnock wind stress formula is no longer applicable and the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (MOST) has a singularity; MOST relies on the dimensional analysis of relevant key parameters that characterize the flow behavior and the structure of turbulence in the atmospheric surface layer. Thus, in the conditions of free convection, the traditional MOST is no longer valid, because the surface roughness length also approaches zero. In numerical modeling, the surface fluxes, wind, and temperature in the surface layer are important, because they are used as lower boundary conditions. In the Charnock formulation of surface roughness, two important physical processes were not considered: one is the free convection and the other is the swell. Swell is the long gravity waves generated from distant storms, which modulate the short gravity waves. To date the formulation of the effect of swell on the aerodynamic roughness length has not been theoretically developed. Thus, the purpose of this study is to modify the Charnock wind stress relation to include the effects of the free convection and the swell on the surface roughness length. A formula of the surface roughness length that relates to the convective velocity is proposed by Abdella and D’Alessio (2003). However, in this study, the alternative approaches, which are much simpler than the Abdella and D’Alessio derivation, are used to derive the surface roughness length, which takes into account the effects of the free convection. The convective process is important in affecting the air-sea transfer of momentum, sensible heat, and water vapor, especially at very light winds. Businger (1973)

Modification of the Charnock Wind Stress Formula to Include the Effects of Free Convection and Swell