Dependence of microwave sea returns on wind-friction velocity under varied atmospheric stability conditions

Microwave sea returns under varied atmospheric conditions and sea states were measured by W.C. Keller et al. (1985). The author has examined quantitative variations of these returns with the wind-friction velocity, incorporating modifications of the atmospheric stability, and has also compared features of sea returns and wind-stress coefficients varying with the stability length. Implications for the inception of fine sea-surface structures by wind and their probable saturation and corrections of stability effects of the wind-stress coefficient are discussed. It is shown that trends based on radar returns at low and high winds can be resolved only with simultaneous measurements of fine sea-surface structures