Gas Transfer Velocity Research Articles

Evaluation of wave-based parameterizations of air–sea CO2 gas transfer over global oceans

The parameterization of air–sea CO2 transfer velocity employed in the estimation of bulk fluxes over global ocean is typically established on wind speed but could suffer from the deviations induced by sea states. In this study, the effectiveness of wave-based formulations are substantiated by reproducing climatological air–sea CO2 flux and gas transfer velocity. Sea states play a significant role in facilitating CO2 transfer, particularly in mid to high latitude regions with high wind speeds. The variability in transfer velocity induced by sea states is estimated up to 19% at the wind speed of 15 m/s. The two wave-based formulations used in this study are combined using a critical value of the Reynolds number. The combined formulation further improves estimates of the CO2 gas transfer velocity.

Direct observational evidence of strong CO2 uptake in the Southern Ocean.

The Southern Ocean is the primary region for the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) and is, therefore, crucial for Earth's climate. However, the Southern Ocean CO2 flux estimates reveal substantial uncertainties and lack direct validation. Using seven independent and directly measured air-sea CO2 flux datasets, we identify a 25% stronger CO2 uptake in the Southern Ocean than shipboard dataset-based flux estimates. Accounting for upper ocean temperature gradients and insufficient temporal resolution of flux products can bridge this flux gap. The gas transfer velocity parameterization is not the main reason for the flux disagreement. The profiling float data-based flux products and biogeochemistry models considerably underestimate the observed CO2 uptake, which may be due to the lack of representation of small-scale high-flux events. Our study suggests that the Southern Ocean may take up more CO2 than previously recognized, and that temperature corrections should be considered, and a higher resolution is needed in data-based bulk flux estimates.

Magnitude of and Hydroclimatic Controls on CO2 and CH4 Emissions in the Subtropical Monsoon Pearl River Basin

AbstractRivers are important ecosystems for carbon emissions and play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. However, CO2 and CH4 emissions from subtropical rivers are substantially under‐represented in global‐scale estimates. Here, we explored the regional patterns of riverine CO2 and CH4 dynamics in the Pearl River basin with a subtropical monsoon climate. We found that its CO2 and diffusive CH4 emissions showed a decreasing trend with increasing stream order. Seasonality in CO2 and diffusive CH4 emissions was primarily driven by variations in partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and CH4 (pCH4) and gas transfer velocities, which were strongly regulated by hydrology and climate. We further estimated the basin‐wide CO2 and diffusive CH4 fluxes at 17.8 ± 7.4 Tg C yr−1 and 191.5 ± 139.9 Gg C yr−1, respectively. When normalized to the water surface, the mean diffusive fluxes were 790.1 and 8.5 mmol m−2 d−1 for CO2 and CH4, respectively, which were 1.3 and 2.5 times higher than the global mean riverine CO2 and CH4 fluxes, respectively. This suggests that the global significance of subtropical rivers is probably underestimated because their substantially higher CH4 fluxes are unaccounted for. Furthermore, compared with measured pCO2, the alkalinity‐based pCO2 could introduce significant errors by 20% at ∼30% of the sampling sites, underscoring the necessity of direct measurements to reduce uncertainty. This study provides the first estimate of basin‐wide CO2 and diffusive CH4 emissions in the PRB through direct pCO2 and pCH4 measurements, and highlights the role of hydrologic and climatic factors in governing riverine carbon emissions.

Rainfall as a driver for near-surface turbulence and air-water gas exchange in freshwater aquatic systems.

Gas fluxes from aquatic ecosystems are a significant component of the carbon cycle. Gas exchange across the air-water interface is regulated by near-surface turbulence and can be controlled by different atmospheric forcing conditions, with wind speed and surface buoyancy flux being the most recognized drivers in empirical studies and modeling approaches. The effect of rainfall on near-surface turbulence has rarely been studied and a consistent relationship between rain rate and near-surface turbulence has not yet been established. In this study, we addressed some limitations still present in the quantitative understanding of the effect of rain rate on near-surface turbulence and on the resulting gas transfer velocity in freshwater. We performed controlled laboratory experiments over a wide range of rain rates (7 to 90 mm h-1) and estimated gas transfer velocities from high-resolution measurements of O2 concentration, while rain-induced turbulence was characterized based on particle image velocimetry. We found that the rain-induced dissipation rates of turbulent kinetic energy declined with depth following a consistent power-law relationship. Both energy dissipation rates and gas transfer velocity increased systematically with the rain rate. The results confirm a causal relationship between rainfall, turbulence, and gas exchange. We propose a power-law relationship between near-surface turbulent dissipation rates and rain rate. In combination with surface renewal theory, we derived a direct relationship between gas transfer velocity and rain rate, which can be used to assess the importance of short-term drivers, such as rain events, on gas dynamics and biogeochemical cycling in aquatic ecosystems.

Contribution of gas concentration and transfer velocity to CO2 flux variability in northern lakes

AbstractThe CO2 flux () from lakes to the atmosphere is a large component of the global carbon cycle and depends on the air–water CO2 concentration gradient (ΔCO2) and the gas transfer velocity (k). Both ΔCO2 and k can vary on multiple timescales and understanding their contributions to is important for explaining variability in fluxes and developing optimal sampling designs. We measured and ΔCO2 and derived k for one full ice‐free period in 18 lakes using floating chambers and estimated the contributions of ΔCO2 and k to variability. Generally, k contributed more than ΔCO2 to short‐term (1–9 d) variability. With increased temporal period, the contribution of k to variability decreased, and in some lakes resulted in ΔCO2 contributing more than k to variability over the full ice‐free period. Increased contribution of ΔCO2 to variability over time occurred across all lakes but was most apparent in large‐volume southern‐boreal lakes and in deeper (> 2 m) parts of lakes, whereas k was linked to variability in shallow waters. Accordingly, knowing the variability of both k and ΔCO2 over time and space is needed for accurate modeling of from these variables. We conclude that priority in assessments should be given to direct measurements of at multiple sites when possible, or otherwise from spatially distributed measurements of ΔCO2 combined with k‐models that incorporate spatial variability of lake thermal structure and meteorology.

Central Arctic Ocean surface–atmosphere exchange of CO2 and CH4 constrained by direct measurements

Abstract. The central Arctic Ocean (CAO) plays an important role in the global carbon cycle, but the current and future exchange of the climate-forcing trace gases methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) between the CAO and the atmosphere is highly uncertain. In particular, there are very few observations of near-surface gas concentrations or direct air–sea CO2 flux estimates and no previously reported direct air–sea CH4 flux estimates from the CAO. Furthermore, the effect of sea ice on the exchange is not well understood. We present direct measurements of the air–sea flux of CH4 and CO2, as well as air–snow fluxes of CO2 in the summertime CAO north of 82.5∘ N from the Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) expedition carried out on the Swedish icebreaker Oden in 2021. Measurements of air–sea CH4 and CO2 flux were made using floating chambers deployed in leads accessed from sea ice and from the side of Oden, and air–snow fluxes were determined from chambers deployed on sea ice. Gas transfer velocities determined from fluxes and surface-water-dissolved gas concentrations exhibited a weaker wind speed dependence than existing parameterisations, with a median sea-ice lead gas transfer rate of 2.5 cm h−1 applicable over the observed 10 m wind speed range (1–11 m s−1). The average observed air–sea CO2 flux was −7.6 mmolm-2d-1, and the average air–snow CO2 flux was −1.1 mmolm-2d-1. Extrapolating these fluxes and the corresponding sea-ice concentrations gives an August and September flux for the CAO of −1.75 mmolm-2d-1, within the range of previous indirect estimates. The average observed air–sea CH4 flux of 3.5 µmolm-2d-1, accounting for sea-ice concentration, equates to an August and September CAO flux of 0.35 µmolm-2d-1, lower than previous estimates and implying that the CAO is a very small (≪ 1 %) contributor to the Arctic flux of CH4 to the atmosphere.

Differential controls on CO2 and CH4 emissions from the free-flowing Neretva River, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Streams and rivers emit methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), two greenhouse gasses contributing to global warming. Estimates for diffusive gas emissions can be obtained by multiplying the concentration gradient between water and atmosphere with the gas transfer velocity. The latter is purely physically constrained, yet spatially highly variable. And - in a flowing water ecosystem - the local concentration gradient is the result of a dynamic balance between upstream evasion and resupply. The collection of representative emission data is thus challenging and emissions of river ecosystems are rarely assessed considering temporal variability and spatial dependence at network scale. In this study, we uncover spatial heterogeneity and controls of concentrations and emission fluxes of the two greenhouse gasses, CH4 and CO2, along a 50 km length of a pristine river system, the Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This remote river network has so far remained barely influenced by human activities and the hydromorphological status is to date not altered. The Neretva can therefore serve as a reference for similar systems in the region. This seems to be particularly important as rivers in the Western Balkans, including the Neretva, are currently experiencing a surge in hydropower development and damming, which is known to strongly affect riverine greenhouse gas emissions. We found high emissions as a result of co-occurrence of high concentration with high exchange velocity, but we identified different underlying mechanistic processes driving the evasion of the two gasses. CH4 was strongly supply-limited: elevated concentrations were exclusively measured in a large pool (0.84 µmol L-1 compared to a median concentration of 0.005 µmol L-1 in the entire study section). This resulted in CH4 evasion being four orders of magnitude higher in the turbulent reach following the pool (22 mmol m-2 d-1) compared to the median evasion at network scale (0.06 mmol m-2 d-1). In contrast, CO2 evasion was more variable in time and equally dependent on CO2 and gas exchange velocity. The construction of dams intended in this area would lead to reservoirs of slowly flowing or standing water with similar habitat conditions as the observed CH4-hotspot. The concomitant increase in residence time and higher retention of organic material will lead to an increase of CH4 production replacing aerobic respiration. Consequently, CH4 emissions can be expected to drastically increase by orders of magnitude. This greenhouse gas footprint of hydropower generation may counteract the promised climate benefits in terms of renewable energy production.

A Sea State Dependent Gas Transfer Velocity for CO2 Unifying Theory, Model, and Field Data

AbstractWave breaking induced bubbles contribute a significant part of air‐sea gas fluxes. Recent modeling of the sea state dependent CO2 flux found that bubbles contribute up to ∼40% of the total CO2 air‐sea fluxes (Reichl & Deike, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl087267). In this study, we implement the sea state dependent bubble gas transfer formulation of Deike and Melville (2018, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gl078758) into a spectral wave model (WAVEWATCH III) incorporating the spectral modeling of the wave breaking distribution from Romero (2019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl083408). We evaluate the accuracy of the sea state dependent gas transfer parameterization against available measurements of CO2 gas transfer velocity from 9 data sets (11 research cruises, see Yang et al. (2022, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.826421)). The sea state dependent parameterization for CO2 gas transfer velocity is consistent with observations, while the traditional wind‐only parameterization used in most global models slightly underestimates the observations of gas transfer velocity. We produce a climatology of the sea state dependent gas transfer velocity using reanalysis wind and wave data spanning 1980–2017. The climatology shows that the enhanced gas transfer velocity occurs frequently in regions with developed sea states (with strong wave breaking and high significant wave height). The present study provides a general sea state dependent parameterization for gas transfer, which can be implemented in global coupled models.

Multi-annual variability of pCO2(aq) and air-water CO2 flux in the mangrove-dominated Dhamra Estuary draining into the Bay of Bengal (India).

Small estuaries often remain neglected while characterizing air-water CO2 flux dynamics. This study reports the seasonal, spatial, and multi-annual variability of carbon biogeochemistry, emphasizing air-water CO2 flux from a small tropical mangrove-dominated estuary (Dhamra Estuary) of the Bay of Bengal, based on the 9-year-long sampling survey (2013 to 2021). The sampling covered twelve pre-fixed locations of this estuary. A suite of biogeochemical parameters was kept within the purview of this study to deliniate the interrelationship between CO2 fluxes and potential factors that can regulate/govern pCO2(aq) dynamics. Air water CO2 exchange rates were calculated using five globally accepted empirical gas transfer velocity equations and varied in a range of - 832.5 to 7904 μmol m-2 h-1. The estuary was a sink for CO2 in monsoon season, having the highest average flux rates of - 380.9 ± 125.5 μmol m-2 h-1, whereas a source in pre-monsoon (38.29 ± 913.1 μmol m-2 h-1) and post-monsoon (91.81 ± 1009.8 μmol m-2 h-1). The significant factors governing pCO2 were pH, salinity, total alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). This long-term seasonal study emphasizes the need to include small regional estuaries for more accurate estimates of global CO2 flux to upscale the global carbon budget and its controlling mechanism.

Interannual and seasonal variability and future forecasting of pCO2(water) using the ARIMA model and CO2 fluxes in a tropical estuary.

The seasonal and interannual variation in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in water [pCO2(water)] and air-water CO2 exchange in the Mahanadi estuary situated on the east coast of India was studied between March 2013 and March 2021. The principal aim of the study was to analyze the spatiotemporal variability and future trend of pCO2 and air-water CO2 fluxes along with the related carbonate chemistry parameters like water temperature, pH, salinity, nutrients, and totalalkalinity, over 9 years. The seasonal CO2 flux over nine years was also calculated using five worldwide accepted equations. The seasonal map of pCO2(water) followed a general trend of being high in monsoon (2628 ± 3484 μatm) associated with high river inflow and low during pre-monsoon (445.6 ± 270.0 μatm). High pCO2 in water compared to the atmosphere (average 407.6-409.4 μatm) was observed in the estuary throughout the sampling period. The CO2 efflux computed using different gas transfer velocity formulas was also consistent with pCO2 water acquiring the peak during monsoon in the Mahanadi estuary (6033 ± 9478 μmol m-2 h-1) and trough during pre-monsoon (21.66± 187.2 μmol m-2 h-1). The estuary acted as a net source of CO2 throughout the study period, with significant seasonality in the flux magnitudes. However, CO2 sequestration via photosynthesis by phytoplankton resulted in lower emission rates toward the atmosphere in summer. This study uses the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model to forecast pCO2(water) for the future. Using measured and predicted values, our work demonstrated that pCO2(water) has an upward trend in the Mahanadi estuary. Our results demonstrate that long-term observations from estuaries should be prioritized to upscale the global carbon budget.

Local processes with a global impact: unraveling the dynamics of gas evasion in a step-and-pool configuration

Abstract. Headwater streams are important sources of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The magnitude of gas emissions originating from such streams, however, is modulated by the characteristic microtopography of the riverbed, which might promote the spatial heterogeneity of turbulence and air entrainment. In particular, recent studies have revealed that step-and-pool configurations, usually found in close sequences along mountain streams, are important hotspots of gas evasion. Yet, the mechanisms that drive gas transfer at the water–air interface in a step-and-pool configuration are not fully understood. Here, we numerically simulated the hydrodynamics of an artificial step-and-pool configuration to evaluate the contribution of turbulence and air entrainment to the total gas evasion induced by the falling jet. The simulation was validated using observed hydraulic features (stage, velocity) and was then utilized to determine the patterns of energy dissipation, turbulence-induced gas exchange and bubble-mediated transport. The results show that gas evasion is led by bubble entrainment and is mostly concentrated in a small and irregular region of a few square decimeters near the cascade, where the local gas transfer velocity (k) peaks at 500 m d−1. The enhanced spatial heterogeneity of k in the pool does not allow one to define a priori the region of the domain where the outgassing takes place and makes the value of the spatial mean of k inevitably scale-dependent. Accordingly, we propose that the average mass transfer velocity should be used with caution to describe the outgassing in spatially heterogeneous flow fields, such as those encountered in step-and-pool rivers.

An assessment of air-sea CO2 flux parameterizations during tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal

The exchange of air-sea CO2 plays a significant role in regulating the Earth’s climate. The errors associated with the estimations of air-sea CO2 fluxes during extreme transient events like tropical cyclones (TCs) are important for climate research. In this study, we assess the estimates of CO2 gas transfer velocity and the corresponding air-sea flux derived by employing five wind-dependent and two wave-dependent parameterizations for eight TCs in the Bay of Bengal using mooring observations and reanalysis datasets. To start with, we analyze drag coefficient (CD) and associated frictional velocity (u*) derived from two globally very commonly used bulk flux algorithms, COARE 3.0 and the updated version COARE 3.6, with the estimates from wind-wave tank experiments for moderate and high wind speeds for all TCs. The analysis indicates that COARE 3.6 provides the best estimate of drag coefficient. Further, we find that the wave-dependent parameterization by Woolf (2005) provides the best estimates of CO2 gas transfer velocity compared to existing estimates of laboratory-based wind-wave tank experiments for high winds. Among all wind-only parameterizations, the hybrid parameterization proposed by Nightingale et al. (2000) performs best for high winds. We find that for winds < 20 m/s, the resultant fluxes of CO2 estimated using these seven parameterizations vary within 5 mmol CO2 m-2 d-1. However, for winds > 20 m/s, the difference between wind- and wave-parameterized fluxes are significant (∼50 mmol CO2 m-2 d-1). The percentage of variation in CO2 flux explained by transfer velocity (difference in sea and air pCO2) during TC conditions is nearly 78 (15)%.

Effects of Bubble Plumes on Lake Dynamics, Near‐Bottom Turbulence, and Transfer of Dissolved Oxygen at the Sediment‐Water Interface

AbstractWe quantify the lake dynamics, near‐bottom turbulence, flux of dissolved oxygen (DO) across the sediment‐water interface (SWI) and their interactions during oxygenation in two lakes. Field observations show that the lake dynamics were modified by the bubble plumes, showing enhanced mixing in the near‐field of the plumes. The interaction of the bubble‐induced flow with the internal density structure resulted in downwelling of warm water into the hypolimnion in the far‐field of the plumes. Within the bottom boundary layer (BBL), both lakes show weak oscillating flows primarily induced by seiching. The vertical profile of mean velocity within 0.4 m above the bed follows a logarithmic scaling. One lake shows a larger drag coefficient than those in stationary BBLs, where the classic law‐of‐the‐wall is valid. The injection of oxygen elevated the water column DO and hence, altered the DO flux across the SWI. The gas transfer velocity is driven by turbulence and is correlated with the bottom shear velocity. The thickness of the diffusive boundary layer was found to be consistent with the Batchelor length scale. The dynamics of the surface renewal time follow a log‐normal distribution, and the turbulent integral time scale is comparable to the surface renewal time. The analyses suggest that the effect of bubble plumes on the BBL turbulence is limited and that the canonical scales of turbulence emerge for the time‐average statistics, validating the turbulence scaling of gas transfer velocity in low‐energy lakes.

High-frequency, year-round time series of the carbonate chemistry in a high-Arctic fjord (Svalbard)

Abstract. The Arctic Ocean is subject to high rates of ocean warming and acidification, with critical implications for marine organisms as well as ecosystems and the services they provide. Carbonate system data in the Arctic realm are spotty in space and time, and, until recently, there was no time-series station measuring the carbonate chemistry at high frequency in this region, particularly in coastal waters. We report here on the first high-frequency (1 h), multi-year (5 years) dataset of salinity, temperature, CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) and pH at a coastal site (bottom depth of 12 m) in a high-Arctic fjord (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard). Discrete measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity were also performed. We show that (1) the choice of formulations for calculating the dissociation constants of the carbonic acid remains unsettled for polar waters, (2) the water column is generally somewhat stratified despite the shallow depth, (3) the saturation state of calcium carbonate is subject to large seasonal changes but never reaches undersaturation (Ωa ranges between 1.4 and 3.0) and (4) pCO2 is lower than atmospheric CO2 at all seasons, making this site a sink for atmospheric CO2 (−9 to −16.8 molCO2m-2yr-1, depending on the parameterisation of the gas transfer velocity). Data are available on PANGAEA: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.960131 (Gattuso et al., 2023a).

Thin boundary layer model underestimates greenhouse gas diffusion from inland waterways

Inland waters are significant sources of atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The thin boundary layer (TBL) model is often employed as a means of estimating GHG diffusion in inland waters based on gas transfer velocity (k) at the air-water interface, with k being subject to regulation by near-surface turbulence that is primarily driven by wind speed in many cases. This wind speed-based estimation of k (wind-k), however, can introduce substantial uncertainty for turbulent waterways where wind speed does not accurately represent overall turbulence. In this study, GHG diffusion in the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal (China), the first and longest man-made canal in the world, was estimated using the TBL model, revealing that this model substantially underestimated GHG diffusion when relying on wind-k. Strikingly, the carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide diffusions were respectively underestimated by 159%, 162%, and 124% when using this model. These findings are significant for developing more reliable approaches to evaluate GHG emissions from inland waterways.

Multiscale Temporal Variability of the Global Air‐Sea CO2 Flux Anomaly

AbstractThe global air‐sea CO2 flux (F) impacts and is impacted by a plethora of climate‐related processes operating at multiple time scales. In bulk mass transfer formulations, F is driven by physico‐ and bio‐chemical factors such as the air‐sea partial pressure difference (∆pCO2), gas transfer velocity, sea surface temperature, and salinity–all varying at multiple time scales. To de‐convolve the impact of these factors on variability in F at different time scales, time‐resolved estimates of F were computed using a global data set assembled between 1988 and 2015. The F anomalies were defined as temporal deviations from the 28‐year time‐averaged value. Spectral analysis revealed four dominant timescales of variability in F–subseasonal, seasonal, interannual, and decadal with relative amplitude differences varying across regions. A second‐order Taylor series expansion was then conducted along these four timescales to separate drivers across differing regions. The analysis showed that on subseasonal timescales, wind speed variability explains some 66% of the global F anomaly and is the dominant driver. On seasonal, interannual, and decadal timescales, the ∆pCO2 effect controlled by the ∆pCO2 anomaly, explained much of the F anomaly. On decadal timescales, the F anomaly was almost entirely governed by the ∆pCO2 effect with large contributions from high latitudes. The main drivers across timescales also dominate the regional F anomaly, particularly in the mid‐high latitude regions. Finally, the driver of the ∆pCO2 effect was closely connected with the relative strength of atmospheric pCO2 and the nonthermal component of oceanic pCO2 anomaly associated with dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity.

Higher Apparent Gas Transfer Velocities for CO2 Compared to CH4 in Small Lakes.

Large greenhouse gas emissions occur via the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) from the surface layer of lakes. Such emissions are modeled from the air-water gas concentration gradient and the gas transfer velocity (k). The links between k and the physical properties of the gas and water have led to the development of methods to convert k between gases through Schmidt number normalization. However, recent observations have found that such normalization of apparent k estimates from field measurements can yield different results for CH4 and CO2. We estimated k for CO2 and CH4 from measurements of concentration gradients and fluxes in four contrasting lakes and found consistently higher (on an average 1.7 times) normalized apparent k values for CO2 than CH4. From these results, we infer that several gas-specific factors, including chemical and biological processes within the water surface microlayer, can influence apparent k estimates. We highlight the importance of accurately measuring relevant air-water gas concentration gradients and considering gas-specific processes when estimating k.

Modified Tracer Gas Injection for Measuring Stream Gas Exchange Velocity in the Presence of Significant Temperature Variation

AbstractGas exchange between streams and overlying air is an important physical‐chemical environmental process that is typically determined by injecting a tracer gas into a stream at a steady rate and sampling steady‐state tracer gas concentrations in the stream water. Previous modes of tracer gas injection allow gas‐water partitioning of the tracer gas, making the rate of gas injection and thus the measured gas transfer velocity potentially sensitive to temperature variation. Presented here is a modification to the tracer solution injection method in which a tracer gas solution was prepared in Tedlar® bags from which all headspace was removed before injecting the solution into the stream. Along with four other strategies to prevent a headspace from forming in the bags during tracer injection in the field, this zero‐headspace tracer solution method prevents gas‐water partitioning anywhere in the injection system, allowing a steady delivery of tracer gas to the stream even in the presence of variation in air and/or stream water temperature. A field test of the method in Nebraska yielded a gas transfer velocity of 4.1 m/day, within the range found in the literature for similarly‐sized streams.

Dimensionless Parameterizations of Air-Sea &lt;em&gt;CO&lt;/em&gt;&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; Gas Transfer Velocity on Surface Waves

Accurate quantification of air-sea gas transfer velocity is critical for our understanding of air-sea CO2 gas fluxes, global carbon budget and climate responses. CO2 transfer velocity is predominantly subject to constraints of wave-related dynamic processes at the ocean surface layer but is typically parameterized with wind speed. This study proposes and compares two parameterizations which accommodate dimensionless wave terms. The validations are conducted using both laboratory and field measurements of CO2 transfer and wave statistics. A scaling of bubble-mediated gas transfer is implemented into the formula that is linked to wave breaking probability. The improved parameterizations are capable of collapsing combined laboratory and field data sets which comprise diversified conditions of wind, wave and wave breaking.

Air–sea gas exchange in a seagrass ecosystem – results from a 3He ∕ SF6 tracer release experiment

Abstract. Seagrass meadows are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world and could help to mitigate the increase of atmospheric CO2 from human activities. However, understanding the role of seagrasses in the global carbon cycle requires knowledge of air–sea CO2 fluxes and hence knowledge of the gas transfer velocity. In this study, gas transfer velocities were determined using the 3He and SF6 dual tracer technique in a seagrass ecosystem in south Florida, Florida Bay, near Bob Allen Keys (25.02663∘ N, 80.68137∘ W) between 1 and 8 April 2015. The observed gas transfer velocity, normalized for CO2 in freshwater at 20 ∘C, k(600), was 4.8 ± 1.8 cm h−1, which was lower than that calculated from published wind speed/gas exchange parameterizations. The deviation in k(600) from other coastal and offshore regions was only weakly correlated with tidal motion and air–sea temperature difference, implying that wind is the dominant factor driving gas exchange. The lower gas transfer velocity was most likely due to wave attenuation by seagrass and limited wind fetch in the study area. A new wind speed/gas exchange parameterization is proposed (k600=0.143u102), which might be applicable to other seagrass ecosystems and wind-fetch-limited environments.