It is not possible to directly measure the wind stress on the ocean surface. To obtain measurements of the wind stress, another easily measurable quantity like wind speed is measured and then via a parametrization the wind stress observations are obtained. Still, measurements of the wind stress are important as the value of the drag coefficient is not known for unsteady and non-ideal conditions. Measurements of the wind stress for such conditions can resolve the issue of the unknown drag coefficient. Four methods of measuring the drag coefficient are known as the Reynolds stress method, the dissipation method, the profile method and a method of using radar remote sensing.