|
Air-Sea Gas Exchange |
||||||||
In December 2012 we installed an eddy covariance system on the bow mast of the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker to make direct measurements of carbon dioxide flux over the ocean. These data are being used in conjunction with dpCO2 data obtained from Taro Takahashi at LDEO (underway system on the Palmer) to calculate the gas transfer velocity. Previous research on the wind speed dependence of the gas transfer velocity (k vs U) has yielded a variety of functional forms, ranging from piecewise linear (Liss and Merlivat, 1986), to quadratic (Sweeney et al ., 2007), to cubic (Wanninkhof and McGillis, 1999). At low wind speeds there is good agreement between the different parameterizations of transfer velocities, but the range widens at higher wind speeds (>15 m/s). Our goal was to make measurements over a longer term than a typical research cruise and collect enough data to better constrain the gas transfer velocity. The system was deployed on eight cruises, mostly in the Southern Ocean.
This research supported by the National Science Foundation award O-278-N.
|
