Ocean Dynamics (2015) 65:375–384
DOI 10.1007/s10236-015-0811-4
Swell and the drag coefficient
Henry Potter
Received: 31 October 2014 / Accepted: 22 January 2015 / Published online: 21 February 2015
# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
Abstract Simultaneous measurements of waves and turbu-
lent fluxes were collected from a moored surface buoy in the
Philippine Sea. Waves were partitioned into their wind sea and
swell components, and the ratio of swell to wind sea energy
was used to assign a swell index. The 10-m neutral drag co-
efficient was calculated using the eddy correlation method.
Four hundred hours of data were processed in 30 minute runs
for wind speeds 8.5 to 16.5 m s−1 when the peak wave direc-
tion was within 90° of the wind direction and included obser-
vations during mixed seas, swell dominant, and wind sea
dominant conditions. The data were analyzed to explore the
influence of swell on the drag coefficient. It was found that
when compared to periods of equal wind speed, the drag co-
efficient was reduced up to 37 % when swell energy was twice
that of the wind sea energy. It is believed that this reduction
was due to a decrease in the turbulent flux around the swell
frequency, suggesting that the swell diminishes the surface
aerodynamic roughness.
Keywords Dragcoefficient . Waves . Swell . Momentumflux
1 Introduction
The marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) is a dynam-
ic region where the ocean is strongly coupled with the atmo-
sphere. Within the MABL, energy is exchanged across the air-
sea interface through the vertical transport of horizontal
Responsible Editor: Jörg-Olaf Wolff
H. Potter (*)
Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Ave., SW,
Washington, DC, 20375 USA
e-mail: henry.potter.ctr@nrl.navy.mil
momentum via the momentum flux ! τ . In part, the mo-
mentum flux impacts the climate by driving currents,
creating waves, triggering ocean mixing, influencing
whitecap coverage, forcing aerosol production, and alter-
ing atmospheric and oceanic stability. The exchange of momen-
tum at high wind speed is also important in tropical cyclones.
Being a crucial component of the climate system, the momen-
tum flux is a key parameter used in atmospheric, oceanic, and
wave models, and with recent advances in coupled atmosphere–
ocean–wave modeling (e.g., Chen et al. 2013), this is even more
important.
Direct measurement of ! τ requires sampling turbulent
fluctuations of the horizontal downwind u and cross-
wind v components of the velocity and correlating them
with the vertical component w. In stationary and ho-
mogenous conditions, ! τ is assumed to be constant
within the surface flux layer and above the viscous
sublayer and is calculated from:
h

i
!
τ ¼ρ −u0 w0 bi þ −v0 w0 bj ¼ ρu2* : ð1Þ
Here ρ is air density, bi and bj are unit vectors along and per-
pendicular to the mean wind direction, overbars represent time
average (O 30 min), primes denote fluctuating components
0  
u ¼ v0 ¼ w0 ¼ 0, and u* is the friction velocity. Given the
difficulty of measuring fluxes at sea, many applications, espe-
cially those that require extensive spatial coverage, use a bulk
formula to determine the momentum flux, which is conven-
tionally written as:
jτ j ¼ ρC Dz U 2z ð2Þ
where U z and C Dz are the mean wind speed and drag
coefficient, respectively, at height z above the surface.
Monin and Obukhov (1954) established a similarity theory
376
which relates the gradient of U to the u* through a universal
dimensionless gradient function φu:
∂U u
¼ φ ðζ Þ: ð3Þ
∂z κz u
Here, κ≈0.4 is the Von Kármán constant and ζ=z/L is the
Monin–Obukhov stability parameter. L is the Obukhov length
(Obukhov 1946) which accounts for the effect of buoyant
production of turbulence on the wind profile:
u3 θ
L¼−
* v  ð4Þ
κg w0 θ0 v
where g=9.8 m s−2 is acceleration due to gravity, θv is the
mean virtual temperature, and w0 θ0 v is the virtual temperature
flux. Integrating Eq. (3), the velocity profile becomes:
    (wind wave energy)
u z
U z −U 0 ¼ ln −ψu ðζ Þ ð5Þ
κ z0
where U0 is mean wind speed at the surface (typically set to 0),
z0 is the surface roughness length for momentum (usually
defined relative to zero velocity), and ψu(ζ) is the integrated
form of φu(ζ). In neutral conditions, where buoyant forcing
becomes negligible, |z/L| goes to 0 whereby the last term in
Eq. (5) becomes zero and the classic logarithmic mean wind
profile is formed. The expression for the 10 m neutral drag
coefficient can then be written as CD10N =u2*/U210N which can
be expressed as a unique function of the roughness length:
κ2
CD10N ¼
2 ð6Þ
ln 10
z0
Physically, z0 is a measure of the upwind terrain roughness
experienced by the wind due to the surface roughness
elements and viscosity. Theoretically, z0 is the height where
U goes to 0. Using dimensional reasoning, Charnock (1955)
proposed an empirical expression which accounts for ampli-
fied roughness length from wave growth due to surface stress
as wind speed increases: z0 =αu2*/g: wheree α is the Charnock
parameter. Charnock took α to be a constant, thus this expres-
sion for z0 can be substituted into Eq. (6) and CD10N can be
expressed as a function of U10N alone: CD10N =f(U10N). Typ-
ical values of α range from 0.012 to 0.035 (Wu 1980).
Several field campaigns have found that the drag coeffi-
cient increases linearly with wind speed, e.g., HEXOS (Smith
et al. 1992); SWADE (Donelan et al. 1997); AWE (Drennan
and Shay 2006). However, due to the scatter inherent in these
datasets (e.g., Fig. 1 of Drennan, 2005a) no single parame-
terization sufficiently models all the data. Kitaigorodskii and
Volkov (1965) suggested that α should be a function of wave
related parameter such as the wave age Cp /u*, where Cp is the
Ocean Dynamics (2015) 65:375–384
Fig. 1 Example of wave partitioning from 1-D wave spectrum taken
from a period of U10N = 8.9 m s−1. The vertical dashed line is the
frequency f1 =g/(2πU101.2) which partitions ES (swell energy) from EW
wave speed at the peak frequency, to account for the speed of
the roughness elements in relation to the wind. This was first
supported by Donelan (1982) whereby yielding an expected
drag coefficient relationship of CDN =f(U10N, Cp /u*). Howev-
er, attempts to quantify the influence of wave age on surface
roughness are often hampered by self-correlation issues which
arise because the roughness length is calculated from the fric-
tion velocity via Eq. (5), as such both the roughness length and
the wave age are determined using u* and can result in spuri-
ous correlation. Furthermore, although wave age dependence
reasonably well describes the wind stress under pure wind
seas, it has been shown that swell obscures the relationship
between roughness and wave age (e.g., Drennan et al. 2005)
limiting its applicability under conditions when the ocean has
a significant swell component. This was demonstrated by
Smedman et al. (2003) who showed that as the energy of
waves moving faster than the wind increases relative to the
energy of waves generated by the wind, the dependence of the
drag coefficient on wave age becomes weaker.
The influence of swell on stress depends on the wind speed
and swell properties and on the angle between the wind and
swell (e.g., Pan et al. 2005). When swell propagates along the
wind direction, it tends to decrease surface drag (e.g., Drennan
et al. 1999; García-Nava et al. 2009) because swell is thought
to modify the wind sea roughness associated with younger
waves whereby limiting the frictional coupling between the
atmosphere and ocean (Donelan and Dobson 2001). When
opposing the wind, swell has also been found to increase the
surface drag (e.g., Donelan et al. 1997). Through its impact on
surface roughness, swell is, in part, liable for variability in the
drag coefficient that cannot be attributed to wind speed. Being
able to quantify the influence of swell’s impact on surface drag
is essential for improving modeling efforts that rely on param-
eterization of momentum exchange across the air–sea
Ocean Dynamics (2015) 65:375–384
interface such as the forecasting of waves, currents, and trop-
ical storms which have direct impact on spill combat, ship-
ping, recreation, fisheries, and search and rescue efforts,
amongst others. Despite this, lack of observational data means
substantial gaps in our ability to quantify the momentum flux
exist and underscore an inherent need for more MABL mo-
mentu m flux measurements in order to improve
parameterizations.
In this study, concurrent measurements of direct fluxes and
waves from a moored surface buoy are presented in order to
quantify the damping by swell of the small-scale wind-driven
waves which support the surface roughness. Data collected
during the Impact of Typhoons on the Ocean in the Pacific
(ITOP) experiment are analyzed over wind speeds of 8.5 to
16.5 m s−1 and include measurements made in three typhoons
and with significant wave heights between 1 and 8.5 m. The
diversity of sea states recorded during ITOP makes this data
set ideally suited to examine the interaction between the
waves and momentum flux. The impact of swell is assessed
by comparing CD10N for different swell indices which are
determined from the ratio of swell to wind sea. Results show
that the presence of swell dampens the surface roughness
resulting in a reduction in CD10N up to 37 %. This result helps
explain some of the variability in the drag coefficient and has
important implications to future modeling efforts which cur-
rently parameterize the drag coefficient as a unique function of
wind speed.
This paper is laid out as follows: in Section 2, the ITOP
data is introduced; Section 3 contains a description of the
swell index; in Section 4, results are presented; Section 5 is
reserved for the discussion; and summary is in Section 6.
2 ITOP data
Data were collected from an extreme air–sea interaction
(EASI) buoy (Drennan et al. 2014) between August and De-
cember 2010 as part of the ITOP experiment. EASI was de-
ployed by the R/V Roger Revelle in the Philippine Sea around
127°E 21°N, 750 km east of Taiwan, in approximately
5,500 m of water depth where it was anchored to the seabed
via ~7,000 m of line attached to a ~3,100-kg cast iron anchor.
EASI is an adaptation of the Navy Oceanographic Meteoro-
logical Automatic Device and was fully instrumented to mea-
sure air-sea fluxes of momentum, heat, and mass, as well as
mean meteorological and oceanographic parameters. Momen-
tum fluxes were recorded using a Gill R2A sonic anemome-
ters at 20 Hz and stored to a below deck data acquisition
system. The sonic was mounted on the rear mast 5.45 m above
mean sea level and positioned to minimize the effects of flow
distortion. EASI’s motion was recorded by two full motion
packages. The buoy motion was used to motion correct the
sonic data following Anctil et al. (1994) and also enabled
377
EASI to operate as a single point triplet surface follower wave
buoy. More information about EASI as a wave buoy can be
found in Collins III et al. (2014a, b) and further information
about the ITOP experiment can be found in D’Asaro et al.
(2011) and Drennan et al. (2014).
Data were processed in runs of 30 min. Each run was
analyzed for spikes in u, v, and w. Spikes were generally rare
and those which were both isolated and greater than four
standard deviations from the run mean were interpolated
through. Any runs for which more than 0.5 % of values fell
outside four standard deviations were discarded, accounting
for the removal of 17 runs. Data quality of individual runs
was assessed by inspecting both the linear cumulative sum-
mations of the covariance, and the cumulative integrals of
cospectrum for the downwind and crosswind stress (see
Fig. 3 of Potter et al. 2015); 72 runs were removed in this
manner. Following quality control, the wind vector was ro-
tated so that u pointed into the mean wind direction and
u ¼ w ¼ 0. Mean wind speeds were raised to their 10 m
neutral equivalent values following Monin and Obukhov
(1954). Drennan et al. (2014) investigated the effect of
EASI’s motion on wind speed due to changes in anemome-
ter height caused by platform tilt. They found that reduction
in mean anemometer height was at most 1 % and had a
negligible effect on measured wind speed.
3 The swell index
Wave energy was separated into the swell ES and wind sea EW
components using 1-D wave partitioning (e.g., Smedman
et al. 2003):
Z f1
ES ¼ S ð f Þd f ð7Þ
0
Z ∞
EW ¼ S ð f Þd f ð8Þ
f1
Where
g
f1 ¼ ð9Þ
2π1:2U 10
Here, S(f) is the 1-D wave spectrum, f is frequency, and f1 is
the separation frequency. This partitioning is based on the CP /
U10 definition of wave age for which CP /U10 ≥1.2 corresponds
to swell conditions (Pierson and Moskowitz 1964). Applying
this to the equation for phase speed at the peak frequency CP =
g(2πf1)−1 yields the swell definition g(2πU10 f1)−1 ≥1.2 from
which Eq. (9) is formed.
The definition of f1 is slightly different from the one pre-
sented by (Smedman et al. 2003). In the original definition,
378
U10 was multiplied by a factor of cosθ, where θ is the differ-
ence between the wind and wave angle at the peak of the wave
spectrum. This term originates from the wave age parameter
CP /(U10cosθ), which was motivated by the need to account for
the wind component in the wave propagation direction. How-
ever, swell effects on the MABL are thought to be similar for
both swell traveling 90° relative to the wind direction and
wind following swell (Högström et al. 2009; Smedman et al.
2009). Thus, inclusion of the cosine term in the wave age
definition may lead to erroneous classification of sea state,
as discussed by Högström et al. (2011). The inclusion of the
factor 1.2 in the denominator of Eq. (9) also differs from the
original definition of f1 which separated the spectrum into
waves moving faster and slower than the wind. Here instead,
the partitioning variation used by Sahlée et al. (2012) was
applied and the 1.2 term was included in the denominator such
that ES represented the swell part of the spectrum and EW
represented the waves influenced by the local wind. A typical
1-D wave partition is shown in Fig. 1. The swell ratio was
determined from ES /EW (denoted δ) and used to quantify the
relative amount of swell energy for each run. Runs were
indexed according to their swell ratio into one of three groups:
ES /EW <0.5 (δ1), 0.5≤ES /EW ≤2 (δ2), or ES /EW >2 (δ3), where
higher values relate to greater swell energy relative to wind
sea. Note that δ1 represents wind sea dominant (WSD) condi-
tions because the wind sea energy is at least double the swell
energy, and δ3 represents swell dominant (SD) conditions be-
cause the swell is at least twice as energetic as the wind sea.
To satisfy sea state classification established by Donelan
et al. (1985), which states that only one component of wave
energy is designated wind sea, analysis was restricted to wave
spectra with, at most, a single dominant peak in the wind wave
frequency range. Data was further restricted to conditions
when the mean wind was traveling within 90° of the peak
(dominant frequency) waves, in order to prevent waves mov-
ing faster than, but against, the wind being erroneously classed
as wind waves. This classification of wind waves is more
liberal than was proposed by Donelan et al. (1985) who de-
fined them as waves traveling within 45° of the wind. How-
ever, in this study, data are grouped as either θ≤45° or 45°
<θ≤90° and processed separately to explore if swell’s effects
on the surface roughness is similar for swell traveling
within 90° relative to the wind direction and for wind
following swell.
The result of partitioning and indexing the waves is
displayed in Fig. 2 where CD10N vs. U10N is plotted for runs
up to 20 m s−1 and θ≤90°. Coefficient CD10N increases ap-
proximately linearly with U10N, but there is scatter throughout
depicting approximately two-to-threefold variability in CD10N
which cannot be attributed to wind speed. The plot contains 1,
364 values for which the number of runs N within each swell
index are as follows: δ1: N=345, δ2: N=495, and δ3: N=524.
At lower wind speeds the swell index was high (blue) showing
Ocean Dynamics (2015) 65:375–384
that the waves were generally moving faster than the wind and
conditions were SD. Runs of δ3 taper off as U10N increases and
do not exist above ~14 m s−1. Runs for δ2 (black) fill the
intermediate wind speed range between ~6 and 16 m s−1 as
the relative amount of swell to wind sea energy is decreased.
Cases with δ1 (green) are prevalent at moderate to high wind
speeds (above ~8 m s−1) when the waves largely moved
slower than the wind and conditions were WSD.
4 Results
To focus on the relationship between waves and the momen-
tum flux, a region of interest from 8.5 to 16.5 m s−1 was
isolated for closer examination. Within this range, all swell
indices are well represented and the drag coefficient increases
linearly with wind speed. Above this range, only δ1 exists and
below this range there is increased scatter in the drag coeffi-
cient which may be attributed to gustiness, which causes de-
parture from Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, and smooth
flow, in which viscosity helps support surface stress (see
Drennan (2005a) for a discussion of these parameters). These
considerations are beyond the scope of this paper.
In Fig. 3, friction velocity is shown as a function of wind
wave energy. The data are separated in EW bins of 0.1 m2.
Within each bin, the data are plotted according to their respec-
tive swell indices and shown with 90 % confidence intervals
around the friction velocity. Higher friction velocities occur
during periods of greater wind sea energy, and u* decreases
within each bin as the relative amount of swell increases even
though the amount of wind sea energy remains approximately
equal. These results show that surface roughness elements are
associated with wind waves and that the friction velocity is
reduced in the presence of swell. At its lowest value, u* ≈
0.3 m s−1 which is consistent with Foreman and Emeis
(2010) who found that for U10 ≥8 m s−1 the sea surface tran-
sitions to become aerodynamically rough and boasts a friction
velocity of ~0.27 m s−1. The lack of separation between swell
indices at low EW suggests that swell may have limited impact
during this transition regime. Combining results from Figs. 2
and 3, it can be inferred that the drag coefficient is both a
function of the wind speed and the characteristics of
the wave field.
In Fig. 4, CD10N is plotted as a function of U10N for≤45 (a)
and 45°<θ≤90° (b). Plots are delineated by swell index each
with a linear best fit. The drag coefficient increases with wind
speed for each swell index while higher swell indices appear
to have reduced drag coefficient.
In Fig. 5, the regression lines from Fig. 4 are shown but
now include 90 % confidence intervals. The drag coefficient is
seen to be significantly influenced by the presence of swell for
θ≤45° (Fig. 5a). This assertion can be made when comparing
δ1 to δ3 (98 % confidence) or δ2 to δ3 (90 % confidence), but
Ocean Dynamics (2015) 65:375–384
Fig. 2 CD10N as a function of
U10N for runs up to 20 m s−1 and
θ≤90°. The points are color coded
according to the swell index as
follows: δ1 (green), δ2 (black),
and δ3 (blue). Note that some
points are plotted behind others
no distinction can be made between measurements for which
0<δ<2. Results show that for wind following swell, when the
amount of swell energy is at least twice the energy in the wind
sea (i.e., conditions are SD), a distinctive reduction in the drag
coefficient occurs compared to conditions of equal wind speed
but higher relative wind sea energy. An increase in swell index
from δ2 to δ3 was found to reduce CD10N up to 16 %,
while an increase from δ1 to δ3, i.e., transitioning from
WSD to SD conditions, is associated with a reduction
of CD10N ranging from 5 to 37 %. This reduction range
of CD10N was effectively the same throughout the entire
wind speed range.
For 45°<θ≤90° (Fig. 5b), the regression value of CD10N
was reduced by 19 % at 8.5 m s−1 and 26 % at U10N of
14 m s−1 between δ1 and δ3. However, the decrease was only
found to be significant at 60 % confidence. These results may
be attributed to the small sample size of δ3 (N=14, of which
only three data points were above 10 m s−1) rather than the
lack of a relationship, but results remain inconclusive. No
difference was found in CD10N when comparing δ2 to either
δ1 or δ3.
Fig. 3 Friction velocity u* is presented as a function of wind sea energy
EW. Data are divided into EW bins of 0.1 m2 and further separated within
each bin according to their swell indices
379
5 Discussion
5.1 Momentum flux
In neutral conditions, CDN is thought to have a one-to-one
relationship with the roughness length z0 (Eq. 6), which is a
measure of the ocean roughness elements. This roughness is
supported by the wind sea waves which themselves grow
under direct forcing from the wind whereby increasing the
surface stress. As such, wind speed is directly related to am-
plified roughness and an increased drag coefficient. However,
it has been shown here that, for wind speeds from 8.5 to
16.5 m s−1 and θ≤45°, an increase in the ratio of swell to wind
sea energy is also associated with reduction of the drag coef-
ficient insomuch as an increase in the amount of swell energy
relative to wind sea energy is linked to reduced surface rough-
ness. This relationship was also explored for 45°<θ≤90° for
which results suggest a similar mechanism exists but could not
be confirmed due to a small sample size. The reduction of
CD10N reached maximum when SD conditions were compared
to WSD conditions, for which a reduction in the drag coeffi-
cient between 5 and 37 % was found.
The bearing of swell on momentum flux is visualized in
Fig. 6 (top row) where 3 h of u-w cospectra are plotted for three
periods during ITOP. The mean of the six runs in each plot is
shown by a black line and the red dashed lines are universal
curves from Miyake et al. (1970) dimensionalized by mean
values of u*, U10N, and z. Concurrent mean wave spectra are
shown in Fig. 6 (bottom row) where f1 from Eq. (9) is indicated
by a gray dashed line. For each period, (a), (b), and (c), the angle
between wind and waves at peak frequency was narrow, but
each had unique wave spectra, wind speed, wave age, wave
height and swell ratio, which are summarized in Table 1. During
period (a), conditions were swell dominant (δ=2.5, U10N /CP =
0.54); during period (b), conditions were developing with mixed
seas (δ=0.5, U10N /CP =0.78); and in period (c), the wind sea was
dominant (δ=0.02, U10N /CP =1.3).
The mean cospectrum in Fig. 6(a) is similar to the universal
curve of Miyake et al. (1970); however, there is a dip in the
cospectrum around the frequency of the swell system and a
380 Ocean Dynamics (2015) 65:375–384

Fig. 4 Drag coefficient as a

function of wind speed for θ≤45°
(a) and 45°<θ≤90° (b). Data are
separated according to their swell
indices as shown in Fig. 2. a N=
287 (green), 199 (black), and 76
(blue); b N=122 (green), 99
(black), and 14 (blue). Note that
some points are plotted behind
others

departure from the universal curve at frequencies below the
swell. Despite reasonable run-to-run variability, the mean
cospectrum in Fig. 6b also adheres well to the universal curve.
There is some departure from the universal curve at frequen-
cies below the swell, but there is no systematic dip at the swell
frequency. The mean cospectrum in Fig. 6c is a very close
portrayal of the Miyake et al. (1970) curve and supports the
work of Drennan et al. (1999) who also found copsectra fol-
low this curve under similar conditions.
The departure of the u-w cospectra from the universal curve
visible in Fig. 6a was a reoccurring trait during wind-
following swell conditions and an index=δ3, which resulted
from decreases in turbulent flux at the swell frequency. This
feature does not exist systematically in the cospectra in
Fig. 6b, but the mean curve does depart slightly from the
universal curve at lower frequencies. In both Fig. 6a, b, the
departure from the Miyake et al. (1970) curve at lower fre-
quencies lies around the frequency range of the swell system.
This is consistent with previous results (cf. Figure 11 of
García-Nava et al. (2009)) which showed that the momentum
transfer is reduced, or even upward, at lower frequencies and
frequencies coincident with swell. A sizable dip in the mean u-
w cospectrum was also observed by Sahlée et al. (2012) which
coincided with the swell frequency; but due to the run-
to-run variability, the authors claimed that the data did
not systematically differ from the universal curve. Both
mean cospectra in Fig. 6a, b are reduced at lower fre-
quencies around the swell but in column (a) reduction
in cospectra occur systematically, are more pronounced,
and occasionally drop below zero whereby contributing

Fig. 5 Drag coefficient as a

function of wind speed for θ≤45°
(a) and 45°<θ≤90° (b). Linear
regressions for each swell index
are plotted as in Fig. 4, but 90 %
confidence intervals are also
included
Ocean Dynamics (2015) 65:375–384 381

Fig. 6 Top row: mean u-w

cospectra for periods (a), (b), and
(c) during ITOP. Individual runs
are in gray, the mean of the six
runs is in black, and the red
dashed lines are universal curves
from Miyake et al. (1970)
dimensionalized by mean values
of u*, U10N, and z. Bottom row
concurrent 3 h mean wave spectra
are with f1 from Eq. (9) indicated
by a gray dashed line.
Atmosphere and ocean conditions
for these periods are summarized
in Table 1

an upward momentum flux, causing a reduction in u*, 5.2 Wave partitioning

and subsequently decreasing in C D10N during swell
dominant conditions. While the mean cospectrum is re- In order to corroborate the wave partitioning method used in
duced at lower frequencies in Fig. 6b, it is above the this study, here wave energy is compared to results from pre-
universal curve at frequencies between ~0.1 and 2.5 Hz vious studies. Following the similarity theory (Kitaigorodskii
due to increased wind sea (because of EASI’s large 1962; 1973), it was proposed that the total energy of a wave
hull, a cut off exists at ~0.45 Hz and waves with great- system should be a unique function of the wind speed. Using
er frequency cannot be resolved). Because wind sea dimensional reasoning, the total energy Etot of a wave system
provides the necessary roughness elements, reduction can be expressed as:
of momentum transfer at lower frequencies due to swell
is seen to be offset in this case by increased energy εU 4re f
E tot ¼ ð10Þ
transfer at higher frequencies. In Fig. 6c, there is no g2
swell; consequently, there is no attenuation of the sur-
face roughness and no departure from the universal where Uref is the reference wind speed (set=U10N) and ε is the
curve, meaning CD is not reduced. proportionality coefficient for total energy. This equation de-
The drag coefficient has been shown to have an in- scribes the limits of fetch limited wave growth. Alves et al.
verse relationship with stability (e.g., Kara et al. 2005) (2003) determined ε = 3.64×10−3 by reevaluating experimen-
and could influence the results here. To explore this tal data of Moskowitz (1964) and Pierson and Moskowitz
possibility, atmospheric stability for each of the wave (1964). Kahma and Calkoen (1992) determined ε using di-
classes was calculated. Results showed condition were mensionless fetch X e ¼ gX =U 2 , where X is fetch in m, and
10
generally less unstable when the swell index was δ3 found ε = 9.25×10−7 X e 0.766 for stable and ε = 5.38×
compared to δ1 or δ2. However, mean z/L between each 10−7 X e 0.94 for unstable conditions. In Fig. 7, EW as defined
index varied by less than 0.04, and were not significant- by Eq. (8) and (9) are compared to results from these previous
ly different (95 % confidence). studies. The data for each swell index is fitted with a line of its
respective color. For comparison, also plotted are the curves
Table 1 Mean swell calculated from Alves et al. (2003; red) and Kahma and
ratio δ, wind speed U10N, Period (a) (b) (c)
Calkoen (1992) for stable (lower gray) and unstable (upper
significant wave height
HS, off-wind peak wave δ 2.5 0.5 0.02 gray) conditions. The Kahma and Calkoen curves in Fig. 7 were
angle θ, and inverse U10N 9.5 14.1 12.9 calculated using Xe = 8,000, which was shown by the authors to
wave age U10N /CP, for HS 2.3 3.6 2.4 be the point where fully developed conditions are approached.
periods (a), (b), and (c) In order to complete a fair comparison between the observed
plotted in Fig. 6 θ 17.5 14 36
U10N/CP 0.54 0.78 1.3 and parameterized values in Fig. 7, it was necessary to address
the fact that Eq. (10) determines the energy of the entire wave
382
Fig. 7 Wind wave energy EW as a function of U 210N. The dots are the
swell indices δ3 (blue), δ2 (black), and δ1 (green) as shown in Fig. 2; each
has a line of fit in its respective color. The red dashed line is determined
from Alves et al. (2003) and the upper and lower gray lines show EW
calculated from Kahma and Calkoen (1992) for stable and unstable
conditions, respectively
system rather for which the peak frequency satisfies f1 ≥
g(2π1.2U10)−1; whereas, observed values of EW only consider
the wind sea component even when f1 ≥g(2π1.2U10)−1 is satis-
fied. In order to account for this, the results of Eq. (10) were
multiplied by the ratio EW /Etot calculated from observed values
for 8.5 m s−1 ≤U10N ≤16.5 m s−1 and θ<90°. The mean value of
EW /Etot was found to be 0.66±0.02, which is consistent with
Sahlée et al. (2012) who, using the same technique, found
EW /Etot =0.73±0.02.
The curves in Fig. 7 for δ1, δ2, and δ3 are well predicted by
the Alves et al. (2003) and unstable Kahma and Calkoen
(1992) curves, lending credence to the wave energy
partitioning method applied to the ITOP data. The Alves
et al. (2003) curve slightly overestimates observed EW and
the Kahma and Calkoen (1992) unstable curve slightly under-
estimates EW, but the differences are nominal suggesting that
EW during ITOP was similar to previous field campaigns. Due
to the unstable conditions that prevailed throughout the exper-
iment, the significant underestimate of the stable condition
curve of Kahma and Calkoen (1992) was not unexpected.
The slopes of δ1 and δ2 plotted in log-log both equaled 2,
verifying that EW is proportional to U 410N and that these data
adhere to the predictions of similarity theory. For δ3, the slope
was 2.3 indicating a slight departure from similarity theory.
This will be addressed below. A similar plot of ES vs. U 210N
showed no relation, as expected.
The log-log slope of 2.3 for δ3 in Fig. 7 suggests that a
slight deviation from similarity theory may have existed in
swell dominated conditions during ITOP. Wind profile mea-
surements under similar conditions of swell traveling predom-
inantly in the wind direction have previously been studied by
Ocean Dynamics (2015) 65:375–384
Högström et al. (2013). The authors reported that the wind
profile was characterized by a wind speed increase from the
surface to a height of about 7–8 m above which a layer of
virtually constant wind speed existed, indicating a departure
from the logarithmic wind profile predicted by similarity the-
ory. In order to explore the possibility that this feature existed
during ITOP and influenced the results of this study, two tests
of quality control were preformed. Firstly, wind speeds from
EASI measured at 5.45 m and within the region of logarithmic
wind profile observed by Högström et al. (2013) were com-
pared to those from R/V Roger Revelle measured at 17 m,
where wind speed would essentially be constant with height.
Should a deviation from similarity theory exist, U10N deter-
mined from each of these heights would not agree (with EASI
overestimating U10N and R/V Roger Revelle underestimating
it). However, when within 5 km of each other, the sensors
showed excellent agreement even during swell (r=0.92), sug-
gesting any deviation from the classic wind profile was neg-
ligible. A second sensitivity analysis was conducted by re-
analyzing the ITOP data using U7N rather than U10N in order
to stay below the region of constant wind speed observed by
Högström et al. (2013). The impact on results was negligible
(not shown), confirming any deviation from a logarithmic
wind profile was nominal.
5.3 Wave age
Previous wave age studies have shown a link between swell
and the drag coefficient (e.g., Drennan et al. 2003, 1997).
However, more recently, Andreas et al. (2012) determined that
friction velocity is almost independent of wave age, which
suggests that a relationship is ambiguous. The authors also
showed swell slightly increases rather than decreases surface
drag over the range 8.5 m s−1 <U10N 16.5 m s−1, which con-
flicts with the results of this study. For comparison, the data
from this manuscript were used to determine if the results using
ES/EW are reflected in a wave age analysis. To this end, the
data were classified as either wind sea or swell using the wave
age partitioning of Pierson and Moskowitz (1964), and plotted
as CD10N vs.U10N (Fig. 8). No evidence of decreased drag
coefficient was found for following or cross swell compared
to wind sea conditions. This is in relative agreement with
Andreas et al. (2012) and suggests the wave age parameter
may have limited utility in drag coefficient analysis, while
highlighting the applicability of using the swell ratio.
5.4 The Charnock parameter
The results of this study highlight the importance of including
a wave related component in parameterizations of surface
roughness. Previous studies (e.g., Donelan et al. 1993) have
used the wave age for this purpose in order to account for the
greater frictional coupling between the ocean and atmosphere
Ocean Dynamics (2015) 65:375–384
Fig. 8 CD10N vs. U10N. Data are classified as either wind sea (orange),
following swell (gray), or cross swell (purple). The black dashed line is
the linear best fit of all the data
associated with younger waves. However, quantifying the in-
fluence of the wave age on surface roughness is difficult be-
cause it is vulnerable to self correlation issues and has limited
applicability during swell. The use of the dimensionless swell
index introduced here avoids these problems. Although results
here were hampered by their own limitation of only being
assessed during wind-following-swell, such conditions were
prevalent for U10N between 8.5 and 16.5 m s−1, as such this
limitation proved minor.
Previous findings that the Charnock parameter α=gz0 /u2*
(Charnock 1955) should not be treated as a constant but
should depend on some measure of the ocean surface are
supported by the results of this study. The mean Charnock
parameter for δ1, δ2, and δ3 was 0.013, 0.012, and 0.005,
respectively. No significant difference was found between δ1
and δ2, but both were significantly different from δ3 (>90 %
confidence). Values of α for δ1 and δ2 are consistent with
previous studies (e.g., Kraus and Businger 1994), α for δ3
was appreciably lower, illustrating the reduced frictional cou-
pling between wind and waves in SD conditions. The swell
ratio can be incorporated into the Charnock expression, α=
gz0 /u2* =f(ES /EW,θ), which translates to the drag coefficient as
CDN = f(UN,ES /EW, θ). This outcome complements results
from previous studies that link wave characteristics as well
as wind speed to surface drag. Parameterization of CDN in
terms of the ES /EW and UN will lead to improved results when
compared to using simple linear wind speed dependence and
should be incorporated into future modeling efforts.
6 Summary
Direct measurements of momentum fluxes and waves were
made from a floating platform over 87 days in the Philippine
Sea in 2010. Data were processed in runs of 30 min. Analysis
was restricted to runs with U10N from 8.5 to 16.5 m s−1 and
when the angle between peak frequency waves and wind θ≤
383
90°, resulting in 400 h of data. Waves were partitioned into
their swell ES and wind sea EW components using 1-D wave
spectra, and for each run the swell ratio EW /ES was deter-
mined. Runs were grouped according to swell index: ES /EW
<0.5 (denoted δ1), 0.5≤ES /EW ≤2 (δ2), or ES /EW >2 (δ3), where
higher values relate to an increase in the relative amount of
swell. Using the eddy correlation method, the 10 m neutral drag
coefficient CD10N was also determined.
The data were examined to explore the influence of waves
on the drag coefficient independent of variability due to wind
speed. For θ≤45°, a decrease in the drag coefficient was ob-
served with increasing swell index. When comparing δ1 to δ3,
CD10N decreased up to 37 % (98 % confidence); for indices
from δ2 to δ3, a decrease up to 16 % was observed (90 %
confidence); these decreases were independent of wind speed.
No difference was found between δ2 and δ3. For 45°<θ≤90°,
a reduction in CD10N was only found when the swell index
increased from δ1 to δ3, i.e., when comparing wind sea dom-
inant to swell dominant conditions. The low confidence of this
result (60 %) is thought to be a consequence of the small
sample size rather than lack of a relationship. The decreased
drag coefficient in the presence of swell was linked to a re-
duction in the momentum flux at and around the swell fre-
quency. This reduction was most prevalent during swell dom-
inant conditions which featured a reduction in the u-w
cospectra decreasing the momentum flux at and below the
swell frequency.
An evaluation of the Charnock parameter α for δ1, δ2, and
δ3 returned values of 0.013, 0.012, and 0.005, respectively.
For δ1 and δ2, α was consistent with previous studies, but α
for δ3 was appreciably lower, illustrating the reduced frictional
coupling between wind and waves in swell dominant
conditions.
Acknowledgments ITOP was funded by Office of Naval Research
under grant N0014-09-1-0392 with additional support from National Sci-
ence Foundation (OCE-0526442) for the development of the EASI buoy,
and Office of Naval Research (DURIP N00014-09-0818) for funding
construction of the second EASI buoy. I appreciate input and guidance
from colleagues at the University of Miami that worked on the ITOP
project, especially Will Drennan, Hans Graber, and Tripp Collins. I am
also grateful to the captains and crew of the R/V Roger Revelle. Finally, I
acknowledge the support of the National Research Council for my Post-
doctoral Research Associate fellowship.
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