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Relationship of oceanic whitecap coverage to wind speed and wind history
Author(s) -
Callaghan Adrian,
de Leeuw Gerrit,
Cohen Leo,
O'Dowd Colin D.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2008gl036165
Subject(s) - wind speed , maximum sustained wind , wind gradient , meteorology , environmental science , wind profile power law , atmospheric sciences , wind direction , prevailing winds , geology , climatology , geography
Sea surface images obtained during the 2006 Marine Aerosol Production (MAP) campaign in the North East Atlantic were analysed for values of percentage whitecap coverage ( W ). Values of W are presented for wind speeds up to circa 23 m s −1 . The W data were divided into two overlapping groups and a piecewise, wind‐speed‐only parameterization of W is proposed that is valid for wind speeds between 3.70 m s −1 and 23.09 m s −1 . Segregation of data points based upon a 2.5 hour wind history acted to decrease data scatter at wind speeds above approximately 9.25 m s −1 . At these wind speeds W values were greater for decreasing wind speeds than for increasing wind speeds. No clear wind history effect was observed at wind speeds below 9.25 m s −1 .