Oceanic Whitecap Coverage Measured during Uk-solas Cruises

The breaking of wind-generated waves plays a significant role in the exchanges of momentum, heat, water vapour, and gas between the atmosphere and the ocean. Breaking waves entrain air into the surface water forming bubbles, which manifests itself as a whitecap on the ocean surface. Whitecap measurements in the open ocean are sparse and are limited to Monahan and Muircheartaigh, (1980), the warm and moderate seas data sets of Bortovskii, (1987), Stramska and Petelski, (2003), and Callaghan et al. (2008a). During the UK funded SOLAS cruises extensive measurements of the whitecap coverage in the North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea were made. Initial whitecap measurements from these cruises will be presented.