The influence of environmental parameters on active and maturing oceanic whitecaps

High‐resolution images of the ocean surface are examined using digital processing, achieving quantifications of actively breaking ( W A ), maturing ( W B ), and total ( W T  =  W A  +  W B ) whitecaps. The images are selected from two data sets of the North Atlantic and Southern Ocean to sample a maximal range of environmental conditions. A total of 125,860 images were processed and averaged to establish 622 10 min periods. Parameterizing W A , W B , and W T with wind speed achieved modest correlations while also displaying large variabilities. Parameterizing W T with wind speed and specific Reynolds numbers achieved correlation coefficients ranging from 0.76 to 0.79. The filtering of W T into its active stage of evolution W A and subsequent fittings with wind speed and specific Reynolds numbers achieved reduced correlation coefficients ranging from 0.62 to 0.66. We suggest that the contribution of W B serves to conceal and thus underestimate the variability of actively breaking waves.