Comparing estimates of whitecap coverage from a spectral wave model with oceanic observations
Author(s)
Callaghan, Adrian
Bidlot, Jean-Raymond
deLeeuw, Gerrit
O'Dowd, Colin
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The fractional or percentage whitecap coverage of the ocean surface is often parameterized in terms of wind speed. Data sets of typically show order of magnitude scatter at a given wind speed value due to sea state variability. Here we compare modeled values of to measured values from the North Atlantic Ocean. The modeled is forced by the spectrally integrated whitecap dissipation source function in the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts spectral wave model, ecWAM. Without tuning, best agreement is found for mature sea states, with an average modeled to measured ratio of 0.87. This ratio approaches unity with the introduction of a dissipation rate threshold value and an explicit wave-age dependence. The study suggests that accurate estimates of can be routinely produced by ecWAM and opens new opportunities to model bubble-mediated fluxes of and sea spray aerosol with ecWAM.
Date Issued
2025-02-16
Date Acceptance
2025-01-14
Citation
Geophysical Research Letters, 2025, 52 (3)
ISSN
0094-8276
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
52
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council [2006-2012]
Identifier
10.1029/2024GL112996
Grant Number
NE/T000309/1
Subjects
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e2024GL112996
Date Publish Online
2025-01-31