Drag Coefficients with Fetch-Limited Wind Waves*

Air‐sea fluxes of momentum and heat were measured simultaneously with surface wind waves and nearsurface currents in mid Chesapeake Bay during summer 1998 under low wind conditions. The data were collected using a Gill sonic anemometer and a Sontek Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter with a pressure sensor mounted on a temporary fixed tower in 8.8 m of water. The analyzed data show that the neutral drag coefficients depend upon both wind speed and wave age. They are better correlated to wave age than to wind speed. Data scatter is significantly larger in low winds than in high winds. Under light winds, the neutral drag coefficients increase with decreasing wind speed and have values much higher than those for relatively higher wind speeds. At higher wind speeds, neutral drag coefficients increase with increasing wind speed. Regardless of wind speed, neutral drag coefficients always decrease with increasing wave age. Neutral drag coefficients are lower than the results of similar field studies when fit to wind speed alone, but they statistically agree with other studies if they are fit to wave age. The momentum transfer mechanism is investigated using a parametric wave model with a seastate-dependent form drag and a reference system moving with the waves. The relationship between modeled drag coefficient and modeled wave age agrees well with the relationship derived from the data.