Wind, temperature and humidity profiles obtained in a wind-water-wave channel with four variations of the interfacial conditions were analyzed in order to assess the influence that the free surface conditions have on the fluxes under near neutral stability conditions. The dimensionless humidity gradient remained essentially constant at 1.2 for all surface variations except for the case of suppressed waves where its value was 0.86. On the other hand, the dimensionless temperature gradient demonstrates a definite response to changes in surface conditions and ranges from 0.73 for the suppressed wave case to as high as 1.41 for the larger wind speed (11 m/s), wind-wave cases. Comparing the results from the suppressed surface and wind-wave cases for U∞=10 m/s it was observed that the total energy (sensible plus latent heat) transfer remained constant. However, sensible heat flux increased with the suppression of the wind waves whereas latent heat flux decreased. |