Wind stress measurements during the Tower Ocean Wave and Radar Dependence Experiment

During the Tower Ocean Wave and Radar Dependence Experiment (TOWARD), near‐continuous measurements of the wind drag were conducted using the dissipation technique. An intercomparison between these measurements and direct stress magnitudes using a sonic anemometer was performed over 3 days of the experiment. The results indicated that the dissipation technique compared well to the directly determined values when conditions were steady and neutral; otherwise, the dissipation method performed poorly. When neutrally stratified data were used, the drag coefficient exhibited a systematic dependence on both surface tension and wave age.