The influence of surface waves on the Reynolds shear stress and the heat flux, measured in the atmospheric surface layer ∼5 m above the ocean, is discussed using the method of Lu and Willmarth (1973). During the observational period, the phase velocity C associated with the dominant wave frequency is 33–80 times larger than the friction velocity u*. When contributions to the momentum flux −uw are sorted out into the four quadrants of the (u,w) plane, the contribution from the interaction quadrants (u>0, w>0; u<0, w<0) increases as C/u* increases. The contributions to the heat flux are not appreciably affected by C/u*. While the probability that sweep and ejection quadrants associated with instantaneous shear-stress and heat-flux fluctuations occur at the same time is large and approximately independent of C/u*, the probability of simultaneous occurrence of interaction events increases as C/u* increases. The period between ejection events also increases with C/u*.
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Chambers et al. (1981) studied this question.