Skin Temperature Correction for Calculations of Air‐Sea Oxygen Flux and Annual Net Community Production

Abstract

AbstractWe evaluated the influence of skin temperature correction on the calculations of air‐sea O2 flux and annual net community production (ANCP). The skin temperature correction term (ΔT) was derived from the fifth generation European Center for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis, which has large spatial and temporal variations that are consistent with independent measurements on three ocean moorings from areas with very different air‐sea heat flux and ΔT. The result revealed that ΔT is dominated by the cool skin effect (which leads to the increase in air‐to‐sea O2 flux and decrease in ANCP), except for the equatorial region or summertime when the warm layer effect is significant. Using data from three Argo profiling floats in the subarctic, subtropical, and tropical Pacific as examples, the calculations indicated that the correction could lead to −1%–+36% difference in annual air‐to‐sea O2 flux and −33%–+5% difference in ANCP.