This study describes an experimental investigation on turbulence characteristics and the water-surface fluctuations in adverse wind-driven open-channel flows by using both a laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA) and a wave gauge simultaneously. In this study, it was shown that the velocity fluctuations of water flow near the interface in not only cocurrent flow but also adverse flow are significantly affected by the water surface in every range of frequency. However turbulence characteristics in water layer in adverse wind-driven open-channel flows are different from those in cocurrent flow, and there exists a high correlation between turbulence and the surface fluctuations in predominant frequency due to high-sheared wind flow.