On the Accuracy of Ocean Winds and Wind Stress – An Emperical Assesment

Abstract

In this paper we shall consider the accuracy of in situ measurements of wind and wind stress over the ocean, and also the contrasting characteristics of different wind stress parameterisations. There is much scatter in the drag coefficient or roughness length measurements for winds below 10 m/s. While this scatter may be caused by sampling limitations and other measurement errors, there is increasing evidence that swell waves may modify the effective surface roughness. However, at these lower wind speeds, the resulting uncertainty in the wind stress is very small, only a few percent of the magnitude of the wind stress at 20 m/s.