Summary
A fixed platform (Fig.3), installed 100 m from the shoreline in 3 m water depth, was instrumented with velocity, temperature and wave-height sensors. 132 data (10 minutes averages) were analysed to calculate the wind stress; from these, 99 data were used to investigate the vertical distribution of the wind stress; all data are presented with Table 1.
It was postulated that the total stress, τ t being constant with height, is made up additively of two components, the wave-supporting stress, τ w , and the turbulent stress, τ c ; see Eq. 1. The vertical distribution of these two components is shown schematically in Fig. 1.
The total stress, τ t , evaluated outside the zone of wave influence, is given in the classical way with Fig. 4. The wave-supporting stress, τ w (z), was evaluated from the data according to a relation proposed by Kitaigorodskii et al. (1984); it is given with Fig. 5. A height-dependency is clearly evident. The turbulent stress τ c (z), was evaluated with data of the velocity gradient; it is given with Fig. 6. A height-dependency is not evident.
The field data from the lake of Geneva give evidence that the additive relation of Eq. 1 seems to be justified.
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Merzi, N., Graf, W.H. Wind stress over water waves: Field experiments on lake of Geneva. Meteorl. Atmos. Phys. 39, 14–24 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01029894
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01029894