Implementation of the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment flux algorithm with CO2, dimethyl sulfide, and O3

Abstract

[1] Updates for the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) physically based meteorological and gas transfer bulk flux algorithms are examined. The current versions are summarized and a generalization of the gas transfer codes to 79 gases is described. The current meteorological version COARE3.0 was compared with a collection of 26,700 covariance observations of drag and heat transfer coefficients (compiled from three independent research groups). The algorithm agreed on average to within 5% with observations for a wind speed range of 2 to 18 m s−1. Covariance observations of CO2 and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) gas transfer velocity k were normalized to Schmidt number 660 and compared to an ensemble of gas flux observations from six research groups and nine field programs. A reasonable fit of the mean k660 versus U10n values was obtained for both CO2 and DMS with a new version of the COARE gas transfer algorithm (designated COAREG3.1) using friction velocity associated with viscous (tangential) stress, u*ν, in the nonbubble term. In the wind speed range 5 to 16 m s−1, tracer-derived estimates of k660 are 10% to 20% lower than the CO2 covariance estimates presented here.