The effect of fluid flow on the scaling properties of roughness during surface growth is studied by copper electrodeposition (and silver electrodeposition, for comparison) and atomic force microscopy measurements. The electrodeposited surface becomes smoother as the Reynolds number increases. Furthermore, fewer growth sites are observed at higher flow rates. Scaling analysis of the self-affine surface indicates that the saturated root-mean-square height decreases with increasing flow and the roughness depends on the fraction of the limiting current. The experimental scaling exponents can be divided into universal and local exponents, alpha(exp) = alpha + alpha(mt) and beta(exp) = beta + beta(loc), where the local growth exponent beta(loc) depends on the flow as expressed by the fraction of the limiting current and alpha(mt) is the mass-transfer-dependent component of the roughness exponent. In order to generalize the results, similar experiments with silver electrodeposition show the same trend. The universal roughness exponent alpha = 0.68 and the universal growth exponent beta = 0.27 are obtained by extrapolation to infinite flow velocity (v(-1) = 0). The scaling exponents are found to be isotropic, as they are independent of the flow direction. (c) 2008 The Electrochemical Society.