SGER: Short Wind Waves: Shape In Relation To Energy Flux And Wind Stress

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Intellectual Merit: Slopes of the wind-blown ocean surface have a nearly Gaussian distribution, but recent satellite observations demonstrate observable non-Gaussian characteristics in the form of skewness and peakedness that vary strongly with wind speed. These properties probably arise from the very shortest gravity and capillary waves on the surface. This project is aimed to identify the wind waves which contribute to the linear increase of mean square slope of the sea surface with wind speed and to identify the non-Gaussian character of the slope distribution. Observational techniques will be developed to find the shape of the sea surface to evaluate slopes and non-Gaussian nature of short waves, and then extending those techniques to identify relations between wave energetics and wind stress. The techniques plan to develop here are promising, though engineering issues are challenging and difficult. In general, the study is exploratory, because it is aimed to quantify short gravity - capillary wave band, mainly due to difficulties associated with measuring O(mm to cm) scale surface waves in the ocean.Broader impacts: The information gain from this study would contribute to direct satellite observations of wind stress, since satellite wind fields are primarily derived from surface roughness or the short gravity - capillary wave characteristics.