Abstract
It is shown that the observationally determined roughness relation z 0 = αu * 2/g in which g is the acceleration of gravity, u *, is the friction velocity in air, and α = 0.0185 (Wu, 1982) for the wind profile over the sea surface relative to the surface current, is consistent with the existence of a Richardson Number criterion at the air-sea interface in which the critical Richardson Number, Ric = 1, such that all the shear energy is converted into potential energy.
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A. T. Bye, J. A Richardson Number criterion for the air-sea interface. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 44, 407–410 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123024
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123024