COSEE Ocean Systems: News
Wind and waves in extreme hurricanes
Description: Waves breaking at the ocean surface are important to the dynamical, chemical and biological processes at the air-sea interface. The traditional view is that the white capping and aero-dynamical surface roughness increase with wind speed up to a limiting value. This view is fundamental to hurricane forecasting and climate research but it has never been verified at extreme winds. Here we show with observations that at high wind speeds white caps remain constant and at still higher wind speeds are joined, and increasingly dominated, by streaks of foam and spray. [Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans ]
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2012JC007983
Availability: Summary
Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Publish Date: 9/1/2012
Reading Level: Expert
Page Length:  

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