On moisture flux across the sea surface

Available data on the water-vapor flux across the air-sea interface are processed to determine its coefficient. The results are found to be clearly divided into two regions; as the wind velocity increases the neutral transfer coefficient decreases at low winds, and increases at intermediate winds. The characteristics of aerodynamically smooth flows are demonstrated at low winds; the neutral transfer coefficient at intermediate winds increases linearly with the wind velocity, at nearly the same rate as the wind-stress coefficient. For various atmospheric conditions, the transfer coefficient varies systematically with the product between the wind velocity and the difference in humidities at the sea surface and at 10-m elevation. Readily applicable formulae are proposed for both low and intermediate winds.