The strong interactions between free-surface flows and atmospheric surroundings may lead to substantial air-water mixing with void fractions ranging from zero in clear-water to 100%. In this study, the air-water flow properties were studied in a large stepped water channel operating at large Reynolds numbers. Interactions between free-surface and cavity recirculation were systematically investigated in the skimming flow regime. Some surface roughness was introduced on the cavity walls and identical experiments were performed with several configurations. Basic results demonstrated some influence of step surface roughness on the flow properties leading to some counter-intuitive finding. The presence of cavity roughness was associated with higher flow velocities and comparatively lower turbulence levels. Distributions of bubble/droplet chords spanned over several orders of magnitude without significant influence of the cavity roughness. The distributions of turbulence levels and bubble count rates showed some correlation and highlighted strong interactions between entrained particles (bubbles, drops) and the flow turbulence. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.