Surface Stress in Tropical Cyclone Observed by Scatterometer

Abstract

Ocean surface wind (U) is air in motion and stress (τ) is the turbulent transport of momentum between the ocean and the atmosphere. While the strong wind of a tropical cyclone (TC) causes destruction at landfall, it is the surface stress that drags down the TC. There was almost no stress measurement except in dedicated field campaigns and the stress we used was almost entirely derived from wind through a drag coefficient (C(sub D)), as defined by C(sub D) = τ / ( ρ U(exp 2)). In TC, there is difficulty in measuring strong wind and large uncertainty in the drag coefficient.