[1] A model for wave and wind stress prediction is constructed. The source functions that drive the space-time evolution of the energy spectra are developed in form based on theory and laboratory and field experiments. The calibration factors (proportionality constants of the source functions) are determined from a comparison of modeled and observed significant height and mean period. The observations are for the month of January 2005 and are derived from an array of laser range finders mounted on a bridge between two platforms in the Ekofisk oil field in the North Sea. The model calculates the form stress on the waves and adds it vectorially to the sheltering-modified skin stress. The resulting drag coefficient versus wind speed is shown to have the observed structure: low in light winds, increasing in moderate winds, and increasing more slowly in very strong winds. Modeled spectral shapes in the four quadrants of Hurricane Bonnie (1998) match the Scanning Radar Altimeter measurements. Modeled spectral properties in Hurricane Ike (2008) are compared against NDBC buoy estimates with good results. Drag coefficients in the mixed seas produced by hurricanes show dependence on wave age of the wind sea, swell propagation direction, and water depth. The need for wave and stress modeling for atmosphere-ocean coupling is emphasized. The new wave model has all the necessary attributes to be the basis for such a coupler.

Tropical cyclones (TCs) change the ocean by mixing deeper water into the surface layers, by the direct air–sea exchange of moisture and heat from the sea surface, and by inducing currents, surface waves, and waves internal to the ocean. In turn, the changed ocean influences the intensity of the TC, primarily through the action of surface waves and of cooler surface temperatures that modify the air–sea fluxes. The Impact of Typhoons on the Ocean in the Pacific (ITOP) program made detailed measurements of three different TCs (i.e., typhoons) and their interaction with the ocean in the western Pacific. ITOP coordinated meteorological and oceanic observations from aircraft and satellites with deployments of autonomous oceanographic instruments from the aircraft and from ships. These platforms and instruments measured typhoon intensity and structure, the underlying ocean structure, and the long-term recovery of the ocean from the storms' effects with a particular emphasis on the cooling of the ocean beneath the storm and the resulting cold wake. Initial results show how different TCs create very different wakes, whose strength and properties depend most heavily on the nondimensional storm speed. The degree to which air–sea fluxes in the TC core were reduced by ocean cooling varied greatly. A warm layer formed over and capped the cold wakes within a few days, but a residual cold subsurface layer persisted for 10–30 days.

The Grand LAgrangian Deployment (GLAD) used multiscale sampling and GPS technology to observe time series of drifter positions with initial drifter separation of O(100 m) to O(10 km), and nominal 5 min sampling, during the summer and fall of 2012 in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Histograms of the velocity field and its statistical parameters are non‐Gaussian; most are multimodal. The dominant periods for the surface velocity field are 1–2 days due to inertial oscillations, tides, and the sea breeze; 5–6 days due to wind forcing and submesoscale eddies; 9–10 days and two weeks or longer periods due to wind forcing and mesoscale variability, including the period of eddy rotation. The temporal e‐folding scales of a fitted drifter velocity autocorrelation function are bimodal with time scales, 0.25–0.50 days and 0.9–1.4 days, and are the same order as the temporal e‐folding scales of observed winds from nearby moored National Data Buoy Center stations. The Lagrangian integral time scales increase from coastal values of 8 h to offshore values of approximately 2 days with peak values of 3–4 days. The velocity variance is large, O(1) m2/normals2, the surface velocity statistics are more anisotropic, and increased dispersion is observed at flow bifurcations. Horizontal diffusivity estimates are O(103) m2/s in coastal regions with weaker flow to O(105) m2/s in flow bifurcations, a strong jet, and during the passage of Hurricane Isaac. The Gulf of Mexico surface velocity statistics sampled by the GLAD drifters are a strong function of the feature sampled, topography, and wind forcing.