Lists input parameters and tables explaining options.
| Parameter | Type | Description | Units | |
| astab | int | Atmospheric stability option | none | |
| CONVECT | float | Convective parameter. Recommended value between 0.7 and 1.25. For details see TOGA NOTES #4 | none | |
| CONV_CRIT | float | Convergence criterion | fraction | |
| air_moist_prm | int | Atmospheric moisture parameter index | none | |
| air_moist_val | float | Value of the parameter corresponding to the above index | see below | |
| dyn_in_prm | int | Dynamic input parameter index | none | |
| dyn_in_val | float | Dynamic input value. Usually the mean wind speed at the height (zref) of the anemometer. Other input options are friction velocity (magnitude), wind stress (magnitude), and equivalent neutral wind speed (scatterometer wind speed). | see below | |
| pressure | float | Atmospheric surface pressure | Pa | |
| ref_ht_wind | float | Height of the wind observations | m | |
| ref_ht_tq | float | Height of the temperature observations. Note: in the current version of the code this must equal to height of the humidity observations. | m | |
| rel_wind_ang | float | Angle of the mean wind relative to the direction that the dominant waves propagate. The positive direction is counter-clockwise when looking down on the surface. | degrees | |
| salinity | float | Salinity | none | |
| sfc_moist_prm | int | Surface moisture parameter index | none | |
| sfc_moist_val | float | Value of the parameter corresponding to the above index | see below | |
| ss_prm | int | Seastate parameter index | none | |
| ss_val | float | Value of the parameter corresponding to the above index | see below | |
| t_air | float | Air temperature at the reference height of the thermometer and humidity sensor | C | |
| t_skin | float | Skin temperature of the water. | C | |
| warn | int | Warning level: 0 warnings, 1 no warnings. | none |
Typically wind speed is used as an input to boundary-layer models. However, scatterometers are now
producing 'observations' of friction velocity and equivelent neutral wind speed.
| Description | Units | |
| Wind speed, relative to the surface current | m/s | |
| Friction velocity (magnitude) | m/s | |
| Surface wind stress (magnitude) | N/m^2 | |
| Equivalent neutral wind speed (relative to the surface current) | m/s |
The atmospheric stability in the boundary-layer can be assumed
to neutral, or it can be calculated input parameters.
| Description | Units | |
| Atmospheric stability is assumed to be neutral | none | |
| Stability is calculated | none |
There are six possible seastate assumptions: any one of the
following can be treated as known: wind-wave stability parameter
(set to 1.0 for local equilibrium), phase speed, wave age, significant wave height, significant slope, and the period of the dominant waves.
Caution: in many cases, these wave characteristics will correspond to swell rather than the phase speed of locally wind induced waves.
| Parameter treated as known (ss_val) | Units | |
| Wind-wave stability parameter | none | |
| Phase speed of the dominant waves. Note: in many cases, this phase speed will correspond to the swell rather than the phase speed of locally wind induced waves. Use of the wrong phase speed can lead to large overestimations of fluxes. | m/s | |
| Wave age the dominant waves (cp/u*) | none | |
| Significant wave height (Hs) | m | |
| Significant slope (Hs/l) | none | |
| Period of the dominant waves (Tp) | s |
| air_moist_prm | Parameter for moisture of air (air_moist_val) | Units |
| Specific humidity at the reference height of the thermometer and humidity sensor | g vapor / g air | |
| Relative humidity | fraction | |
| Dew point temperature | C | |
| Wet bulb temperature | C |
| sfc_moist_prm | Parameter for moisture of air (sfc_moist_val) | Units |
| Specific humidity 'at' (near) the surface | g vapor / g air | |
| Relative humidity | fraction | |
| Dew point temperature | C | |
| Wet bulb temperature | C |
Vector components are calculated parallel and perpendicular to
the direction in which the dominant waves are propagating. The
first component is parallel the direction of wave
propagation, and the second component is perpendicular to the
first (while looking down it is 90 counter-clockwise from the
first component; i.e., in a right handed coordinate system with
the positive vertical axis pointing upward). For most applications
there will be insufficient wave information, requiring the assumption
of local wind-wave equilibrium. This assumption implies that
the wind and the waves are moving in the same direction; which
results in the first component of the vectors being parallel to
the wind direction, and the second component being zero.
All output is single precision floating point.
The routine returns a integer value (i.e., a warning flag). Positive values indicate a lack of specific problems.
If there are problems with missing input, non-convergence within the algorithm, or if the modeled physics obviously fails to apply, then the output is set to -1.
For example, if the thickness of the boundary layer is too small (i.e., the absolute value of the Obhukov scale length less than or equal to 1 m) then the warning flag is set at -1.
| Parameter | Type | Description | Units | |
| shf | float | sensible heat flux | W m-2 | |
| lhf | float | latent heat flux | W m-2 | |
| tau | vector float | stress vector. There are more details on the conversion to zonal and meridional components. | N m-2 | |
| u_star | vector float | friction velocity (u*) | m s-1 | |
| t_star | float | scaling term for potential temperature (T*) | C | |
| q_star | float | scaling parameter for moisture (q*) | none | |
| z_over_L | float | dimensionless Monin-Obhukov scale length | none | |
| wave_age | float | wave age, cp/u* | none | |
| dom_phs_spd | float | phase speed of dominant gravity waves | m s-1 | |
| h_sig | float | significant wave height | m | |
| ww_stab | float | wind-wave evolution parameter | none | |
| zo_m | vector float | momentum roughness length | m |
Last update: July 28, 1998